For the Love of My Life
by InuyashasGrl26
Summary: After when the soul of a child comes ask for help, Kagome begins to lose one ability after another. What does the child have that no one else the group know? Not just her, but also someone else she holds dear.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Item unseen

As the group continue on with their journey, the weather begins to intensify with something unusual. "This isn't good." Inuyasha tells them as he sniffs the area carefully. Unlike before of rain that come down from the sky, it somehow has a different scent. "What is different about the rain, Inuyasha? They have the same scent as always." Shippo hops onto his shoulder to sniff along with him.

That is until Kagome blinks her eyes. "I sense a shard." She tells him. Not wasting another second he turns around to see her looking around them. "Can you tell where it's coming from?" He asks anxiously. Kagome keeps on looking around and then look up to the sky. "It's coming from the clouds." She confirms it. Just Miroku and Sango get onto Kirara's back a flash of lightning spooked Shippo as he shivers in fear. "We need to find shelter. Flying isn't going to be the best idea." Sango tells them as they make a run for it, so that neither of them would get struck by lightning.

As they keep on running, Kagome felt something poke her foot. "Ow." She groans sharply as she kneels down to check her show to see that something went through the sole and her sock. "Kagome. What's the matter?" Sango comes to her level. "I don't know. I might have stepped on something sharp, and it somehow poked my foot." Kagome responds as Sango helps Kagome onto Kirara's back to prevent any injury or pain to spread.

They find an old hut in the woods. "Let's go in there." Miroku tells them. They head in before the rain increased. As they settle down, Kagome feel a tinge of pain coming from her foot. "Kagome, do you remember what you might've stepped on?" Miroku asks her. Kagome takes off her shoe and sock to see if the bottom of her foot is bleeding. Upon looking at it, there's nothing. "How strange. I could've sworn I stepped on something sharp. And yet there isn't any wound on me." She explains to him.

Inuyasha stealthily sniff the foot, "Nothing. I walk barefoot and I would've know a sharp item when I saw one." He tells her casually. Kagome knows that he, Shippo, and Kirara walk barefoot. But that's what demons and half-demon are like. Unless more powerful demons would wear footwear like Sesshomaru. "I might've stepped on a sharp stone or something." Kagome continues to examine her foot. No blood is seeping out. No bruise. Not even a sliver of that matter.

"Speaking of sharp items, Kagome. Where did you say you saw the jewel shard?" Inuyasha asks her. Kagome gasps. "On no. That shard is in the sky but I couldn't pinpoint where specifically." She looks outside and then looks down in shame, almost forgetting the small item. "Hey don't worry about it. We can go get when the rain passes by." Sango reassures her as she looks at the foot. Inuyasha takes his sword and is about to walk out. "Where do you think you're going?" Miroku asks him sternly. "What does it look like, I'm going out to get rid of the clouds of the sky so Kagome can pinpoint the sacred jewel." Inuyasha replies arrogantly. "Sit." Kagome growls as the beads around Inuyasha's neck slams him down onto the ground. "No way you're going out there. It's raining like crazy out there as we speak." Miroku explains the situation outside.

Soon enough the lightning flashes around the around. As soon as the lightning flashed, Kagome screams in pain. "Hey you're not afraid of lightning." Shippo points out to her. Kagome shakes her head. "It's not that. All of a sudden I felt something stabbed me from inside of me." Kagome explains what she just went through. Not just that, she's beginning to shiver uncontrollably. Inuyasha removes his outer haori and wraps her in it. "It shouldn't be from the rain." He warms her up. "No it shouldn't be the rain. It started to rain when we got in." Sango gently disagrees with him as they look outside to see the rain continuing to pour.

Somewhere else in the area where the group left, a new individual arrives on the scene. "So it's her that has the power to sense the sacred jewel shards. It's too bad that she won't be able to have that ability anymore." It spoke as it picks up what appears to be a pebble with a red dot on top of it. "And her blood is the key to make that happen." It smirks as it disappears without leaving a trace of its presence.

Nighttime came in rather quickly. So they group make their dinner with what Kagome brought with her from the future. "Sweet, ramen!" Inuyasha smiles widely as he is about to swipe the Styrofoam cup from in the backpack. Before he about to bring it out, Kagome is panting rapidly. "Kagome." Sango comes to her side. "What's wrong?" She asks worriedly. "I-I don't know. One second I was okay and then somehow I felt so weak all of sudden." Kagome answers slowly. Sango places her hand on the girl's forehead. "You're burning up. Do you have any medicine in your bag?" Sango asks as she takes the bag. "It's in the first aid kit." Kagome tells her the directions of the box.

Sango opens it up and looks inside. "There should a bottle of medicine." Kagome tells her. Sango picks it up and gives two little pills to Kagome. "Here's some water, Kagome." Shippo brings her a bottle full of water for her. Kagome smiles sweetly. "Thanks Shippo." Kagome takes the medicine. Soon after she begins to feel drowsy and lies down. "Kagome, don't go to sleep." Shippo shakes her as she falls asleep.

"Can you guys come here and see if there's anything wrong with Kagome?" Shippo look at Inuyasha and Miroku to come over. Miroku gets to open side of Kagome's body as Inuyasha sits behind her. "Can you detect anything unusual of her spiritual powers, Miroku?" Sango asks him. Miroku raises his hand over the girl's body. "I can feel that something is out of place." He tells them. "Like what, exactly?" Inuyasha asks him. Miroku does it again to get any more details of his observation. "It's hard to say that her powers are getting weaker or getting stronger at a given second." He tries to explain the problem. "So when she was shivering, her powers were weakening, and she started to burn up when her powers were getting stronger." Shippo asks in a more sense tone.

Everyone kind thought that he might be right about this. "Maybe. But there's something else that's slipping my fingers though." Miroku tells the kid seriously this time. "What is it? If we don't know what it we can't find the solution." Inuyasha asks hastily. "What I'm trying to say here is that something might be manipulating her powers without us knowing. If we can trace where that is coming from, we'd have a chance to put a stop on it." Miroku explains to him. Inuyasha sniffs her scent and can tell that something corrupted her scent as well. And by the looks of the outside, it's raining thus making it slim to none to track it down.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Source

The following morning, the rain finally stopped which made it safe for the group to come out of the hut. "Finally. We can go find where Kagome stepped on that sharp item." Shippo cheerfully said as he hopes onto Kagome's shoulder. "Let's make sure we can find it quickly so I get back to normal." Kagome said as she puts on her socks and shoes on. Just when is about to take a step, a jolt of pain snaps through her foot. "Ah." She quickly kneels back down. "What happened?" Sango comes in. Upon seeing Kagome squeezing her eyes shut. "All I did was take a step and then something painful hit my foot." Kagome explains to her as she tries to hold her whimpering. Inuyasha comes in quickly. "Dammit. At this rate we won't be able to find that spot." He crouches down in front of her. Sango helps her onto his back.

As soon as everyone settled up with Sango, Miroku and Shippo on Kirara's back. "Do you remember which way we came from?" Miroku asks Kagome as they see her looking around the area. "I think it was that way." Kagome points to the direction they came from the day before. "Let's just hope you're right." Shippo tells her. Just hearing that made Kagome doubting herself. 'Thanks a lot Shippo.' She thinks sarcastically.

Somewhere in the shadows of an area unknown, the individual secretly watches the group go in the direction where it planted the sharp item. "Kimiko." It calls out to someone. Soon enough a purple goblin appears wearing a yellow kimono with sandals on her feet in front of it. "Yes, master." The goblin bows down. "I want you to give this to the group who is come towards the area that the girl who stepped on this." The individual explains to her as it pulls out what appears a pebble. "This will inflect her with my poison that even her purifications won't be able to protect her from." It explains to her. Kimiko carefully takes the pebble and leaves. "I won't let you down, Naraku." She disappears. Naraku just smirks. "This time I'll make sure she doesn't mess with my plans."

Inuyasha and his friends arrive at the area where it happened. "Can you see anything out of the ordinary, Kagome?" Inuyasha asks her. Kagome looks around trying to use her spiritual powers to sense anything. "It's coming from over there." She points what appears a small aura seeping out of the ground.

As soon as they make it, Kimiko is from downwind so that Inuyasha, Shippo or Kirara wouldn't smell her. 'And now to put it to use.' She positions her hands into different looks as she taps the ground to connect the aura to the pebble in the dirt in front of her. As soon as she did her thing, she waited until Kagome makes contact with the aura she's seeing.

Kagome slides off Inuyasha's back slowly so she wouldn't make the pain any worst. "What do you see, Kagome?" Shippo asks her. Kagome blinks her brown eyes to see if anything is odd. "Hard to say. It'd be as it a weed is withered." She answers the question as she looks closer. When she makes contact, Kimiko quickly connects the pebble to the ground and activate the spell. As such, Kagome feels sparks shocking her as she is being blown away. "Kagome!" Inuyasha runs as fast as he could until he catches her in his arms. "You okay?" He asks her concernedly. Kagome pants in fright. "I think so. I shouldn't been so careless." She replies back as she is being put down onto her good foot. "I think my one foot is okay now." She carefully puts pressure onto the bad one and then somehow it's not hurting her anymore. How weird.

"Do you think it could be from that shock?" Miroku asks as Kirara lands by her. Inuyasha turns to the direction of the spot. "Hardly. There's something else." He replies as he walks there to see what it was that shocked Kagome. When he gets a look at the spot, it's something that surprised him. "What is it, Inuyasha?" Shippo hops onto his shoulder. "Look." He only speaks to the kit. Shippo looks down to see it's a sacred jewel shard.

"Kagome come here!" Shippo calls out to her. Kagome comes to them and looks down to the shard. "No, that's not a sacred jewel shard Shippo." She tells him disappointedly. "What do you mean it's not? Just look at it." Inuyasha picks it up off the ground. Kagome looks at it closely. "It's just a quartz stone. Besides, this is way too big to be a shard of the sacred jewel." Kagome explains the difference between the two. Shippo decides to hang onto it. "Fine. I'll hold it until you change your mind." He snatches it from Inuyasha's hand and puts it in his blue kimino and runs off. Kagome just stares at the kid. "Did I just told Shippo that it wasn't a jewel shard?" she murmurs to herself. She looks down to the spot where Inuyasha picked up the quartz stone. "Not just that. The aura disappeared as well. She looks around to see if there's anything that's not going along with problem. "I must've imagining things." She confirms as she turns around to join her group.

Kimiko watches from the shadows as her victims walk away. "Step one it complete. And not to manipulate the so call 'quartz' that Kagome told the kid. Little did she know it's a replica that looks like one to fool. The aura is meant to animate the power of the item. And once that guy picked it up, all I did was shut off the source, thus making it a regular stone. It's a good that kid decided to keep. Thanks to him, this made it easier for my plan to go on to the next step." Kimiko speaks to herself as she stealthy follows them to their next destination.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Little Girl

As the group make to a little village down a hill, Miroku runs up in front. "Don't move." He said seriously. He looks around the area. "Let me guess, it's a hoax of an evil demon." Inuyasha mockingly asks him. "No. That's not it." Miroku denies it as he positions his staff to detect the smallest presence. Inuyasha on the other hand sniffs around. "There's nothing here." He said as he crosses his arms, doubting his friend. "That's where you're wrong." Miroku declines him. "Then prove it." Inuyasha leans in confidently.

Miroku digs into his robe as he concentrates the source. "There!" He shouts as he shoots a sutra at a tree. The sutra contacts the tree as it vibrates the wood. That's when a scream is being heard. Out comes a spiritual being from inside of it. "Just as I thought. There's your proof." Miroku cockily said back to him as he goes up to the spirit that popped out of the tree. "What's your business of sneaking up on us?" Miroku asks it. Kagome blinks her eyes as she can see it too. "It's not my fault to follow you." It cries as it appears to be a little girl. Kagome kneels down to her level. "Are you lost?" She asks her sweetly. The girl nods back. "I was hoping I could follow you guys to the town down there." She explains shyly.

Kagome can see how scare this little girl is. "what's your name?" She asks nicely. "It's Kimi." Kimi replies back at Kagome. Kagome nods, "She's not a threat to us. We should take her back to the town. Maybe someone there is a relative to her." Kagome stands back up and carries the girl in her arms. Inuyasha, Shippo, Sango, and Kirara can see how Kagome is positioning her arms. "Are you able to see her you guys?" Kagome asks them, seeing how they're looking at her funny. "Nothing." Sango quickly replies back as she picks up Kirara in her arms and let her onto her shoulder. Shippo decides to get onto Inuyasha's shoulder. Kagome gives them a look that neither of them want to say anything that they could regret later on. They head down to the town.

The town is busting with its citizens. They are just doing their usual things. The men out in the fields, and the women are doing their chores as their children play outside. "Do any of these people look familiar to you, Kimi?" Kagome asks the little girl in her arms. The girl looks around to see if she finds anyone that she might know. "No not yet. Maybe they're somewhere else in town." She replies back. "We should split up to cover more ground. Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara, try to sniff out any of the villagers have Kimi's scent." Kagome gives an idea. So Shippo went with Miroku. Kirara and Sango head in a different direction, while the rest of the group go somewhere else.

As the separate groups ask almost every single person, none of them can get the person who has the resemblances or the same scent of Kimi. So they return back to the bank of the river that runs through the town. "Anything?" Sango ask the other two groups. All of them shake their heads as an affirmative no. Hearing that made Kimi sniffled. "Hey, don't worry. We don't leave a child behind. For now, why don't we go stay at the local inn. That is if Miroku can find one." Sango assures her, and then turns to Miroku with a so-called convincing look.

Miroku chuckles nervously. "Yeah, just leave it to me." And then walks away. Inuyasha shakes his head, "Leave it to him. Yeah right." He sarcastically said. Kagome elbows him. "Don't be rude. Especially in front of Kimi here." She scolds him gently not to scare the child. Inuyasha silently growls as he walks in the direction where Miroku went a few seconds ago.

Kagome sighs as the rest of the group decide to lie down leisurely on the hill. Kagome digs into her backpack to get something out. "Do you have our sweets?" Shippo comes up to her with begging eyes. Kimi comes next to him. "What does she have?" She asks curiously. Kagome smiles as she pulls out a pack of lollipops. "Want to try one, Kimi?" She asks as she pulls out and hands it to her. Kimi takes the little piece of candy. She turns to Shippo to see how he eats it. Shippo unwraps the lollipop and gives the wrapper to Kagome. "All you do is this." Shippo answers as he begins to lick the surface of the candy. Kimi copies his actions. With her tongue on the candy's surface she smiles sweetly. "It's yummy!" She gleefully said as she keeps on licking the candy.

Kagome smiles fondly as she eats a rice roll. Sango does as well. "So Kagome, where did you get this yummy stuff?" Kimi asks her joyfully. Kagome smiles at her. "Let's just say you can't get this around here." Kimi blinks her eyes, trying to understand what Kagome meant by that. "Not in this town?" Kimi asks innocently. Kagome shakes her head, "No. It's not like that. I mean this hasn't been invented yet." She corrects Kimi's guess. "Invented?" It turns out that Kimi hasn't heard of that word before. "It's more like an idea. Something that can make our lives a bit easier." Kagome tries to make it more sense for the child. Kimi shrugs her shoulders. "Ok. As long as you these, I'm happy." She resumes her lollipop.

Miroku and Inuyasha wander around the town's street. "Inuyasha you were able to sense that girl were you?" He speaks more serious this time. Inuyasha copies Miroku's expression. "Most definitely. She's actual dead. That's why no one in this town has the same thing as her." Inuyasha replies back as his hands in his sleeves. "Do you think this is Kikyo's work?" Miroku asks him as they browse the area for an inn. "No. I find it hard to believe that you and Kagome were able to see her due to your spiritual powers." Inuyasha comments that possibility. Miroku nods back, "True. But Kagome's spiritual powers are beyond my own." He honestly tells him in monotone. Soon enough they find one. "I'll go get the rest. Don't do any funny business, you lecture." Inuyasha turns around to find his friends while Miroku does his work to convince the innkeeper to lend him a room for the evening.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Lesson Learned

Inuyasha spots the crew relaxing by the river. He sees that Sango and Kirara had already left them. He tilts his head as he sees a sucker moving on its own and shrinking down every now and then. Then he remembers that it must've been Kimi who's doing. He walks down to them. "Did you find a place for us?" Kagome asks him as she offers him a bag of potato chips. He smirks as he takes the bag and begins eating it. "Yeah. I was coming back to get you guys. Where are Sango and Kirara?" He responds when he swallows the food down his throat. "They went into town to gather some supplies for our journey. Kirara will lead Sango to the inn that you and Miroku went to." She replies as she looks down in front of them to see Shippo and Kimi playing with each other. "It's nice to see Shippo play other kids." Kagome smiles at the scene.

Inuyasha agrees. "Yeah. He's the youngest in our group. It wouldn't hurt to stop by somewhere where there's kids who are the same age as him." Kagome wraps her arms around her legs. "If my little brother was here, he'd have a blast playing with him. It's too bad that we're the only ones who can pass through the well." She frowns in the end.

Shippo and Kimi run back up to them. "Did you two have a good time?" Kagome asks them as they came in arm's reach. "We sure did, Kagome." Kimi smiles as she hugs her. Shippo tilts his head. "What's got into her?" Inuyasha asks Shippo. Shippo watches the scene carefully. "I'm not sure. But I can tell that there's something odd about Kimi." He replies back to Inuyasha. "We should head back to the inn." Inuyasha suggest as he picks up Kagome's overloaded backpack. Kagome stands up with Kimi in her arms, while Shippo walks by her side.

As soon as they make it to the inn, Kimi blinks her eyes. "You okay?" Kagome asks the child in her arms. Shippo looks inside to see a few of the workers in the inn looking at her funny. "It's probably the way you're positioning arm." Inuyasha whispers her quietly. Kagome looks down to see Kimi clinging onto her shirt. "Kimi, sweetie. I need you to be on the floor so that they don't look at me in a funny way." She gently tells the child in her arms. Kimi nods as Kagome lowers down to let her hop off. "Shippo, make sure she stays with you." Kagome tells the fox kid seriously. "Leave it to me." Shippo replies back.

Inuyasha leads them through the hallways until they reach a door where Miroku, Sango and Kirara are talking among themselves. "Oh there you are. How are things with you?" Miroku asks as he puts down his cup of tea. "They're fine." Kagome replies as Inuyasha places the backpack onto the corner of the wall. Kimi goes to it and digs through it. "What are you looking for, Kimi?" Sango asks as Kimi appears in front of them. "I want some of those lollipops that Kagome gave me earlier." Kimi replies as she keeps on digging. Kagome chuckles as she goes up to her and lift her away from the backpack. "Sorry, Kimi. But you need to understand that eating too much of those can make you sick." Kagome explains how bad eating so much candy can be for a child.

Kimi pouts. "I'm dead, so there's no need to worry about me." She tries to change Kagome's mind. Shippo comes up to her. "Kimi, even if you've died it's just take time to accept that. Even if you could eat them, there's no telling what the outcome could be." Kagome really didn't see this coming. Even though she carefully spoils Shippo, that little boy begins to learn about the limits of being spoiled. Just hearing that made Kimi pout even more. "Fine. Be that way." She disappears and leaves the room.

"Kimi, wait!" Kagome calls out to the spot where the child vanished. She immediately feels bad, but knows that it's the only way to teach a child, even a dead one to understand how precious life is, in this case, was for her. She sighs disappointedly as she sits back down. "Was it something I said?" Shippo asks her nervously. Kagome shakes her head, "No. It's just that kids don't want to accept the facts about life. I would constantly tell Sota about that. Even mom would have a better way to make sure he gets it." She picks up the kid and place him on her lap.

Sango knows what it's like to make sure that her own little brother, Kohaku understands this lesson as well. Even if it's presented differently. Inuyasha didn't get that kind of stuff. His own childhood was nothing but terrible. For being ridiculed for his heritage. The only one who didn't care about that was his mother. Even though she died at a young age, Inuyasha had to do what it took to survive.

All of a sudden, there was knock on the door. "Yes?" Sango calls out to the unknown person. "We have dinner ready for you." A female voice answers the question. "Come in." Sango calls out nicely. The door slides open to reveal not one but four more of the workers to bring in their dinner. "Thank you for the dinner." Shippo politely speaks to one of them. The worker was a bit younger than the others, "You're welcome." She smiles and leaves the group alone to let them eat in peace.

As soon as the workers leave the room. Kimi reappears in front of them. "Where did you go? We were worried about you." Kagome asks her as she sits down. "I just went outside for some fresh air. Nothing more." Kimi replies as she waits for them to finish their dinner. "Kimi, it's dangerous to go outside on your own. There's no telling what could've happened to you." Miroku speaks more wisely to the child. All that did was make Kimi cross her arms. "Oh if you forgot about me is that I'm dead so I know what might happen. I can't die." She retorts to him. "True, Kimi. But even if you're dead, there are dangers in the afterlife. So from now on, you stay with us." Miroku explains to the child. Knowing that he had a point, Kimi has no choice but to accept his advice.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Nightly Secrets

As the suns completely sets, the stars begin to appear in the night sky. Everyone finished their dinner and waited until the workers to retrieve them. "Hey Kimi." Kagome asks the child. "Yeah." Kagome smiles. "How was it that you were able to eat despite being dead?" She asks the child. Come to think of it. For anyone that died didn't have the ability to eat, even as a spirit. Kimi looks down to her hands, "I died from starvation. I didn't have any food at the most of my life." She explains her story. Just hearing that made the rest of group kind of feel bad about her. She then remember being able to eat the sucker that Kagome gave her earlier. "Oh I never knew that." Kagome realized that.

Shippo decides to put the little quartz stone into Kagome's backpack pockets. "I thought it'd be safer in there." He explains to her. As such, Shippo begins to run his tired eyes. "Looks like it's time for bed, Shippo." Kagome tells him as she takes a sleeping bag from her backpack. "But I'm not tired." Shippo whines tiredly. Kagome chuckles as she tucks him in. "Don't worry. I'll be joining you soon enough."

Kimi tilts her head, "What's that thing?" She points at the item Kagome tucked Shippo in. "That there is called a sleeping bag." Sango answers her question. Kimi looks up innocently confused. "It's something back where Kagome is from. It's used for camping and for them to sleep in throughout the night." Sango tries her best to make is easier for Kimi to understand. That being said, Kimi begins rubbing her eyes as well. "If you want Kimi, you can sleep in it too." Kagome offers it to the little kid. Kimi shyly walks up to it. After feeling how soft it is inside, she doesn't waste another second getting in and falling asleep quickly.

Just seeing that made Kagome smile fondly at the two. "So where are you going to sleep?" Sango asks her seeing that the sleeping bag isn't big enough to have her in with the two kids in it. Kagome had to think of something. "I'll just sleep somewhere else. It's not the first time I've slept without it." She shrugs her shoulders as she still doesn't know where to sleep. By the looks of their room, there are three cots remaining in there. "I'll sleep outside." Inuyasha offers as he grabs his sword and is about to jump onto a nearby tree branch. "Are you sure about this?" Kagome asks him immediately, feeling bad for him to sleep out in the cold. "Hey, I've slept through worse than this." Inuyasha speaks with an irritated voice. Kagome sighs, knowing that this argument is meaningless. "Fine. Good night." Kagome as she goes back inside.

Miroku and Sango get themselves comfortable. Kirara kneads on the cot by Sango's side. Sango strokes her back. "Are you sure Inuyasha will be okay outside?" Miroku asks Kagome as she lies onto her cot. Before falling asleep, she nods. "Yeah. There are times that he recommends it. If that's what he wants to do, then let him." She honestly replies back. Miroku and Sango look at each other with concerned looks. "Has he always been like then since you met him?" Sango asks her curiously. Kagome holds her chin to think back the times Inuyasha slept in his tree outside of the village. "Pretty much. I don't see anything wrong with that." She replies back before turning to her one side to go to sleep. Knowing that everyone is falling asleep, Sango and Miroku decide to do the same.

After a few hours, with the winds gently blows around the place. A figure appears out of thin air. It stealthily enters the room. After going through a few of someone's belonging, it pulls out a stone of some sort. It then turns around to find the group sleeping soundly. It then goes to Kagome's cot. After holding the stone above her body, the stone faintly glows are it is somehow gathering energy from her. Seeing Kagome turning to her other side of her cot, the figure knows for sure that it has to leave the room before anyone is able to sense its presence. 'No doubt about it, she's the one with the power. With this stone, I'll be using it to make myself have that ability it tells itself in its head before disappearing into the night.

The morning sun begins to brighten up the land. After feeling the warmth from it, Inuyasha is the first to wake up from his slumber. He lands back onto the ground to stretch out his body to feel kinks popping in various spots of his body. He looks into the room where his friends are sleeping. He quietly slides the door open to go in, seeing that it's still dawn outside for the humans. He walks very quickly to check on them. Seeing that none of them are harm in anyway, Kirara yawns to alert him a bit surprised. "Hey, go back to sleep, Kirara. I just came in." Inuyasha puts his finger to his lips to silence the kitten. Kirara nods as she goes back to sleep. He checks on the two kids in Kagome's sleeping bag. He smirks as he seeing the two of them holding each other like a marriage. 'Such a sight to see.' He laughs in his head. He sees both Miroku and Sango sleeping like the dead. Figures. His last spot is Kagome sleeping in an unusual position. Instead of sleeping in a fetal position, Kagome is on her back with her one arm out over her head.

'What could she be dreaming about to make her sleep that way?' Inuyasha asks with his one eyebrow raised to himself as he walks around the cot to see if anything was wrong. He looks at her backpack to see that one of the pockets have been left open. 'Maybe she forgot to close it after getting something out in the middle of the night.' He thinks as he knows that Kagome might've done something in her sleep. But then something else got his immediate attention. Knowing about her scent of lavender and vanilla, the scent has been replace with something else that he can't describe. As such he looks around the room to see if something happened without him knowing. He sniffs the area and somehow, an old scent of something unfamiliar with it must've came in at some point while everyone was asleep. The only question in his head is, 'Who was it that came here? If so, what was it doing here?'


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Silent

Sango opens her eyes to collect her vision. "Something wrong, Inuyasha?" Kirara yawns as she looks up too. She presses herself up from her cot. Inuyasha looks down to her, "Someone was here last night." He tells her right off the bat. "Really? I don't sense anything out of the ordinary." Sango looks around to see everything is the way it was before they went to bed. Miroku wakes up, "What's going on?" He asks the two. "Inuyasha thinks that someone barged into our room last night." Sango points with her thumb at Inuyasha as he's still sniffing the room.

Miroku raised his eyebrow, "Really, Inuyasha? You should know better not to place your where it doesn't belong." He comments Inuyasha's habits. Just hearing that made Inuyasha turn around with a look that could kill anyone who would dare to look at him in the eye with that expression. "What was that, monk?" He asks in irritation. "Hey, I just wanted to know why you're sniffing the room." Miroku waves his hands in defense. Inuyasha growls, "Like I said, someone was here last night without any of us knowing it." He repeats his answer. Miroku stretching his limbs, "Maybe it was someone who was skilled to slip through our senses." He tells him casually.

Hearing that made Inuyasha pause for a moment. 'Maybe I'm doing this wrong.' He tells himself. He then turns to see that Shippo and Kimi waking up as well. "What's going on?" Shippo rubs the tiredness of his eyes. "It's nothing to be concerned about, Shippo." Sango tells him as she helps him out of the sleeping back. "Concerned about what exactly?" Kimi crawls out after him. "Like I said." Inuyasha glares at her. That alone made Kimi whimper in fear, as such she runs into the cot that Kagome's sleeping. "Kagome." Kimi whines as she shakes the blanket.

That's when something revealed itself. "Kagome?" Shippo comes to the other side of the cot, shaking it. Inuyasha walks up to yank the blanket off the girl to see that she's dead asleep. "Hey, Kagome. Wake up, will you?" Inuyasha shakes her as well. Like before she doesn't respond the shaking. Sango and Miroku do the same thing, and the girl doesn't respond to them. "What could've happened to her?" Shippo looks up to Sango, hoping for an answer. He then looks up to Miroku.

The monk places his hand over Kagome's body. "Her spiritual powers have been sucked up dry." He tells the group. "What do you mean?" Kimi asks him. Miroku positions his fingers to get more information on Kagome's body. "It'd be as if someone _did _come in last night and used something to suck her spiritual powers. The only one question to ask is 'Who'." Miroku speaks seriously this time. Just hearing that claim made Inuyasha be more carefully about his assumption. 'So then someone was here. I knew it. How could I be so blind?' He is about to go outside until he hears Kagome moan

Kagome weakly opens her eyes. "Kagome!" Shippo smiles in relief. All Kagome can do is smile, but as she is about to say something, her voice is missing. 'What's going on? Why can't I talk?' She shouts in her head. "Something wrong, Kagome?" Kimi asks her. Kagome pushes herself up to sit up. 'I know.' She came with an idea. She points to her backpack. "Need your bag?" Sango asks her. Kagome nods for her answer. Not wasting a second, Inuyasha snatches the bag and gives it to her. Kagome digs in and brings out a notebook and a pencil. She then scribbles down something.

The group gather to see what she wrote down. "I can't talk." Sango reads out loud. "Seriously, Kagome?" Inuyasha asks in disbelief. Kagome stares at him. "Ok. So you can't speak. So what else is wrong with you other than being a mute?" He crosses his arms. Kagome, with all of her strength in her throat to say the word. Hoping it works, it didn't. "Ha, I guess you can't sit me in the condition you're in." Inuyasha laughs at the scene.

Hearing him laugh at her just made things worse. "Inuyasha, how rude at you? You have no right whatsoever to make fun of Kagome in the condition she's in. I bet your mother would be so ashamed of raising you." Sango comes in Kagome's defense. Shippo and Kimi hug her sides to let her know that they're here for her. Even Kirara licks her hand for the same matter. Not standing another second, Shippo pulls out a little statue and places it on Inuyasha's back. "Hey what's the big idea?" Inuyasha tries his best to stand back up but the statue enlarge itself to hold him down. "Seriously, Inuyasha. How cruel are you really? You should know better. Not just that. Because Kagome's a mute, she won't be able to tell us where the shards are." Shippo shouts at him for his stupidity. "So what, she has that notebook and pencil to tell us." Inuyasha counters back him. "True, but it took her time to write it down. We're at a huge disadvantage here and you know it."

Sango sighs, "Shippo's right, Inuyasha. Because of this, there isn't anything we can do at this point. We have no idea on how long Kagome will in this state." She agrees with Shippo as she helps Kagome get changed in a personal changing room. Inuyasha blinks his eyes. And due to the position he's in, he can't reach the sticker to get the statue off of his back. Once Kagome changed into her school uniform she grabs the pencil and notebook to write something down. She shows the page for him to read it. "We're going to Kaede's to figure this out." Inuyasha reads the message out loud. "Fine. Maybe she'll know a thing or two about our problem." Inuyasha speaks more softly this time so that he wouldn't hurt her feelings even further.

Shippo seeing that Kagome is fine for him to be released, He peeled off the sticker to let the huge statue to shrink back to its tiny size and let Inuyasha stand back off. Inuyasha is about to strike that kid for his mischief, but seeing how Kagome is looking at him, he let's it go. For now. The group gather their belongings. Miroku pays the innkeeper for their stay and left the place. Little do any of them know, an unknown presence follows them.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Lost Ability

It took about four days for the group to make it back to Kaede's village. And throughout that time, Kagome still couldn't talk, which frustrated her even more. Not being able to speak a single word, Kagome had to write down something on her notebook to let her friends know what she's trying to say to them. Upon entering the old priestess' hut, Kaede is stroking the fire. "What have ye come back all of sudden?" She asks them in surprised as she stands back up. "Kagome can't speak." Shippo comes up to her in fear in his eyes. Kaede looks up to see Kagome with a hopeless look on her face. "Could you tell me how this happened?" Kaede offers them tea.

"We were in a village to return a little girl's family. But as you can so call see…" Miroku scoots over for Kimi to peek around his back. "She's a spirit." Kaede hmms at the sight. "Hello there sweetie." Kaede speaks softly to the child. Kimi shyly comes up to her. "Hello." She grets back to her. Kaede couldn't help but smiles down softly to the children. "Are you a spirit?" She asks Kimi. The child nods. "You're able to see her?" Sango asks her in a bit of shock. Kaede smiles. "Aye. Any individual who has spiritual powers should be able to see spirits. Monks, and Priestesses are the only ones in this day in age." She explains to them.

Inuyasha begins to lose his patience. "Ok thanks for that, but we need to know on how we can get Kagome's voice back." Even though Kagome can't speak, she elbows him in the arm with a look of 'Stop being so rude.' Inuyasha meh but stays put. Kaede stands back up. "Kagome could you lie down." She asks the teenager. Kagome does as she was told, and wondering what Kaede could do to help.

Kaede kneels down by Kagome's side. "Open your mouth, child." Kaede tells her. Kagome opens up to see what Kaede could see inside. "Anything?" Sango asks her. Kaede places her hand over Kagome's throat. "Oh my." Kaede said worriedly. "What is it?" Shippo looks up to her. Kaede shakes her head. "Kagome's voice has been stolen." She tell the group. Everyone gasps at the claim. "Stolen? Who could steal someone's voice?" Inuyasha is downright shocked to hear this.

Kaede looks down to the girl. "Someone must've used a spell to do it." She tells him. "Are you just assuming or just claiming this?" Inuyasha asks her a bit more aggravated. "Claiming it, Inuyasha." Kaede tells him seriously. Kagome feels so helpless after hearing this. And with that she stands up and leaves the hut. "Kagome, don't go." Sango runs out after her with Kirara right behind her.

Inuyasha growls, "Nice good. You just made Kagome feel so helpless in this situation." He can't stand seeing her in such a state. "All I did was telling her truth." Kaede retorts at him. "But did it ever occurred to you that saying such stuff can make them feel more vulnerable?" Inuyasha just couldn't stand this. Shippo and Kimi think it's best to leave it to the grown-ups to take care of this. Once the kids left the scene, Inuyasha can't accept this. "So any idea on how to break the spell?" Miroku gets to the point of the solution. Kaede thinks for a moment. "All I can do is to track down the effect of the spell." She gives her one idea.

Outside Kagome just throws a few small stones into the river. 'What am I going to do? Without my voice, I can't tell them where the jewel shards." She hugs her knees together as she places her chin on them. "Kagome?" Sango calls out to her. Kagome doesn't want to should how frail she is in her eyes. Kirara mews as she rubs onto her arm. Kagome instinctively strokes the feline's back, letting her know she's okay, for now. "I know how much this is effecting you Kagome." Sango sits down by her. All Kagome could do is nod. "But that doesn't mean that you're a failure. We all know that we all have a weakness. We all have to except that, rather we like it or not." She places her hand onto Kagome's shoulder in a comfortable way.

"Track the effect? How?" Miroku asks her this time, seeing that Inuyasha isn't thinking straight at this point. "I was able to detect someone blocking her vocal cords. Tell me, has Kagome been trying to speak at all since the incident?" Kaede asks them. "She couldn't make a sound from them. All she can do is write down in her notebook." Miroku tells her so far what they observed. Kaede nods to them. "I see. Well from what you're telling me so far, I for one might've seen this once before." She narrows her eyes. "Really?" Inuyasha asks her eagerly. "And I might know who have done this." She tells them dryly this time.

"Kagome!" Shippo and Kimi come up to her. Kagome look down to them. "You're not alone in this." Kimi tells her so far. "Hey I know." Shippo smiles as he pulls out a leaf from his kimono and transform into Kagome. "And you think this will help her how?" Kimi asks him. "I thought that if I could turn into Kagome, I could try to use her voice to help out." Shippo speaks in his regular. "Ok." Kimi sound uncertain about this idea. "How about this." Shippo spoke in Kagome's voice. Kimi smiles at that. "That should work." She claps her hands in happiness. But then the copy reverts back to Shippo. "Sorry Kimi. I can only be in that form for a few seconds." He explains his transformation powers.

Far away from the village an unknown presence watches the place. 'I won't be long now.' It spoke before disappears. From the looks of it, this isn't going to go well for Kagome. 'As long as I have this…' The being opens up to be an orb of some sort. 'She's doomed. And now for phase two.'


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: In a Notebook

Throughout the next few days, Kaede is having a hard time to restore Kagome's lost voice. Not just that, Inuyasha is getting more frustrated by this. Without hearing her voice, it'd be as if he lost her presence through and through. The only way that he and everyone else to communicate is Kagome writing something down in her notebook. But the more she writes down, the more of the notebook is being written thus Kagome's going to have to go back home and get a new one. For right now, Kagome is just minding her own business. Just being a mute is not her thing. "Kagome?" Kimi asks her as she reappears by her side.

All Kagome could do is use body language to get her word across to make it easier to understand. "Are you okay?" Kimi asks her innocently. Kagome digs into her backpack to pull out her mostly written notebook. She writes down, 'More or less. What's going on?' Kimi sits next her. "I don't know. Nothing good is happening around here." She replies by as she looks out towards the village. Kagome smiles as she writes down her next sentence. 'Hey, you never know. There's no telling what might happen in the blink of an eye.' Kimi reads its out loud. "Like what for example?" She looks back up to her. Kagome scribbles down, 'Well, there's a saying. Yesterday is History. Tomorrow is a Mystery. But today is a gift, which is why it's called a gift.' She shows the page to Kimi.

Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippo watch from afar. "What does it look like from here?" Sango asks the monk. Miroku looks down to the sight of Kagome and Kimi. "For now, Kagome is communicating through her notebook with Kimi. Same as usual." He explains the scenario to them. "What about Kaede? She couldn't find a cure to return Kagome's voice. Even if Shippo transforms into her, he can't imitate her voice since it's gone." Sango reasons with them. Hearing that made Shippo feel like a failure already. As such he whimpers.

Kagome senses something. She stands up. "What is it, Kagome?" Kimi asks her. Kagome gestures her to come with her. Soon enough, Kagome picks up her backpack and begins to run towards the whimpering. As she begins to run something else begins to happen. With each step, her hearing starts to get faded away. 'What's going on?' Kagome asks herself, though she can herself in her head.

She comes up to the top of the hill to see Shippo in sadden start. From the looks of it. She gets down to her knees and cradles the kid in her arms. She looks up to Sango and Miroku. She sees them moving their mouths, but not hearing anything they're saying to her. Kimi reappears by them. Kagome points to her backpack. Sango opens it up and pulls out the notebook. Kagome writes something down. 'What happened?' She gives it to them. Not just that, she hands over the notebook and pen. Sango raised her eyebrow and writes down in her handwritten. 'Miroku said something that he shouldn't have said about Shippo's transformation.' She hands over the notebook.

Kagome reads it. She looks at Miroku with the look of 'Nice going, Miroku. Do you really have to say such stuff like that? He's just a kid.' Kagome writes down the phrase and shows it to Miroku. Miroku takes the notebook and begin to write something down, but the last page is completely full. He frowns and gives it back to Kagome.

Kagome looks at him confused until she realized about the last page to be full. 'Great.' She groans. She looks around and finds a stick to write something in the dirt. 'Where's Inuyasha?' It tells the group. The rest of the group shrug their shoulders that they have no idea. Shippo grabs a leaf from his shirt and turns into a bubble. "I'll go look for him." He floats up in the air. Kimi smiles as she decides to the same thing for them.

Somewhere in the Forest of Inuyasha, The Sacred Tree is being sat on one of its tall branches by a red clothed figure. "What's the point?" Himself as he places his hands under his head. "Not hearing her voice is annoying. And Kaede is still having a hard time trying to find her voice. Where did I go wrong?" He sounded like a person who lost something precious in his life. "Inuyasha!" Shippo calls out to him. Inuyasha opens his one golden eyes to find Shippo landing onto the occupied branch. "What now Shippo?" Shippo popped into his original form. "It's terrible. Kagome's deaf. Not just mute, she's deaf now. And her notebook is full so she can't write stuff down for us to read what she's telling up." Inuyasha gasps at the news. "How long ago has she lost her hearing?" Inuyasha asks as he jumps down from the branch with Shippo on his shoulder. "Not long. She can't hear anything. This is terrible." Shippo replies back to him. As they exit the forest, they spot Kagome in a hopeless manner.

Sango knees down to the girl. All she can do is comfortably take hold of her shoulder to let her know that she's here for her. "How did Kagome lose her hearing?" Inuyasha asks the group. None of them has the answer to that question. All Inuyasha can do is growl in frustration. Without a wasted second, he takes hold of Kagome's outstretched hand and carry her onto his back. "Where are you going, Inuyasha?" Sango asks him. "Where else? I'm taking her back to her time." He answers her question. Miroku understands the solution. "Maybe there's something that can help Kagome recover her voice and her sense of hearing." He tells them confidently. Inuyasha nods and disappears into the forest where the bone eater's well is located.

As the duo jumps into the well, a figure watches them from afar. 'There's no way that they can find a way to recover her voice and hearing. Little do they know is that it's in my possession. But not for long.' It speaks grimly in the end.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: A Mother's Touch

Inuyasha helps Kagome get out of the well inside its shed that resides in her family shrine. Even though Kagome can't hear the traffic in the area, she can still smell the surroundings as they exit the shed. Kagome looks towards the house. 'I just hope mom knows what do to.' She thinks to herself as they walk there.

Inside, Mrs. Higurashi is washing the vegetables she just purchased at the market earlier today. As she hums a nice tone, the door opens up to allow the individuals to enter. "Hello?" The older woman calls out to whoever it was that came in. "Hey. We're back." Inuyasha responds back. Mrs. Higurashi sets down the vegetables into the strainer over the sink. "Is someone with you, Inuyasha?" She asks him as she dries her hands with the towel. Inuyasha nods back, "Yeah, but there's a problem." He tells her nervously.

Realizing what the half demon just told her, the older woman comes into the hallway to see her daughter taking off her shoes and looks so helpless. "Kagome, dear?" She begins to speak, but Inuyasha takes hold of her shoulder to make sure she doesn't say anything else. "She lost her voice and hearing. She can't hear a single thing." He just tells her the reason they've returned back in the present.

Mrs. Higurashi covers her mother in shock, "Oh no." She turns around to see Kagome walking upstairs to her room and closing the door in a distraught noise. Inuyasha frowns to see not just Kagome in this situation, but also her mother to the information he's going to tell. 'This is not going to be easy.' He knows that's true. He turns around to see Mrs. Higurashi walking back into the kitchen to resume whatever she was doing before Inuyasha and Kagome came in.

Inuyasha gets into the kitchen to see if he's capable of telling the older about what happened to cause Kagome to be in this problem. "When did this happened?" Mrs. Higurashi asks him right away. He did see this coming. "It happened yesterday." Inuyasha replies calmly. Normally he'd freak out at the slightest, but being in the presence of someone's parent is a whole different story. "We were in a village to help a child find her family, but we didn't find them because it turns out that the child we found earlier that day was dead." He starts off.

That didn't surprised the mother one bit. "I see. Well, it's no wonder my father and Kagome were able to see the souls who passed away." She comments in a little chuckle, hoping to make it a bit more comfortable.

Inuyasha clears his throat to let her know that he needs to resume the story. "And since it was late, we decided to stay in the inn that Miroku was able to convince the innkeeper to let us in." Mrs. Higurashi hears the rest of the story. By the time he finished the last part, she couldn't help but feel so bad about this. "So do you have any idea what we could do to help Kagome to get her voice and hearing back?" Inuyasha asks for her help.

Mrs. Higurashi hands Inuyasha a cup of tea, knowing how worried he is. She sits down across from him with her tea. "I might have a solution for her hearing, but her voice is going to be near impossible to recover." She honestly replies. Inuyasha looks up to her hopefully, "What do you have in mind?" He smiles a little.

Mrs. Higurashi stands back up to go somewhere in the house to get something. Soon she returns with something her hand. She opens it up to show Inuyasha tilts his head curiously to see what it was that Mrs. Higurashi was showing him. "What is it?" He asks her gently. "This is a hearing aid. It helps for those who are deaf or near deaf to hear better. I just hope this can work in your favor. For Kagome's sake. Inuyasha picks it up carefully with his clawed hands to look at it closely. "Let's just wait till Kagome is well enough to let us help her. From the looks of it, having her voice lost, and being deaf is a huge issue for her." She wisely tells him as she resumes her cooking.

A few hours later, Sota and Grandpa Higurashi enter the house. "Hey mom, we're home." Sota calls out to her. "Welcome home, Sota." The mother welcomes him home with a huge. Sota looks to see Inuyasha just minding his own business with a look of uncertainty. "Hey what's up, Inuyasha?" Sota walks up to him happily. "Oh hey, Sota." Inuyasha replies back gloomily. Sota widens his eyes. "You're not happy to see me?" He feels offended by Inuyasha's posture. "No. It's what happened to Kagome." Inuyasha turns his sight to the kid. Sota holds his sniffles. "It's going to be okay, kiddo. I promise you that I'll get it better. You have my word." He ruffles Sota's head.

As dinner is about to begin, Mrs. Higurashi goes upstairs to make sure Kagome is well enough to come down. She quietly opens the door to see Kagome sleeping in her bed. She comes up to her. "Kagome." She shakes her gently. Kagome turns to her side to open her eyes to see who is was to wake her. Kagome's mother hands over the hearing aid to her daughter. She points it to her ear. Kagome puts it on. "Are you coming down to dinner?" For a while, Kagome heard her mother's voice. Kagome nods her head to let her know that she's coming. Her mother smiles and leaves the room.

Mrs. Higurashi comes down to see Inuyasha, Sota and her father with hopeful looks in their eyes. "She's able to hear for the time being. But she still can't speak." She cheers them up. "She can't speak?" Grandpa Higurashi asks in disbelief. "Afraid so. All I can do for now is to lend Kagome one of your hearing aids." She explains to him as she begins dinner once Kagome came into the kitchen to join them.

As everyone begins to eat, neither of them wanted to ask Kagome on how she's doing at this point. Just asking her is just embarrassing to begin with. "So what's the schedule for tomorrow?" Sota asks his mother. All Mrs. Higurashi could do is to come with an answer that can be beneficial for Kagome's sake. "Well, I was about to find a doctor who specializes vocal cords. I thought it'd be a good idea to see if we can get Kagome's voice working again." Kagome heard that loud and clear and didn't mind it one pit.

Inuyasha blinks his eyes, "Oh that reminds me. Do you have a new notebook for Kagome? Before we came, her own notebook was filled up to the end." He asks Mrs. Higurashi. The mother holds her chin. "We'll have to get something else that'll be easier for Kagome to communicate with you back in the Feudal Era." She replies as she grabs the empty dishes to the

sink. Just hearing such great news has definitely lighten up Kagome's day for sure.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Culprit.

The next morning, Inuyasha wakes up in the Sacred Tree's branches in Kagome's time period. Despite the sun rising over the hill of the shrine grounds, the air of the city isn't as pure as it was back in the past. But that's not on his mind for today. Mrs. Higurashi told him that she and Kagome are going see a doctor who specializes with audio loss. Hopefully it works in their favor so that they can get back to the past to resume their journey.

The door opens up to reveal Kagome with her little hearing aid in her one ear with Mrs. Higurashi follows her out of the house. "Good morning, Inuyasha." The older woman waves up to him. Inuyasha jumps back to the ground. "Morning." He speaks nicely to her. Kagome signs 'Good Morning' to him since she can't speak.

"What's with the flailing?" Inuyasha whispers quietly to her mother. She chuckles. "It's called sign language. It's the best way to communicate with those who are deaf." She explains it to him. She positions her hands and fingers into different looks in front of him for 'good morning.' Inuyasha copies them to make sure he can get the hand of the new language. "We better get going." Mrs. Higurashi tells him as she and Kagome head down the stairs towards their destination.

Inuyasha just looks down to see them until they disappear onto the city streets. "So, did my mom and sis left the building?" Sota asks Inuyasha as he is about to go down the stairs. "Yeah. They just left." Inuyasha tucks his hands into his sleeves. "Do you know how long they're going to be at that doctor's appointment?" Inuyasha asks the boy. Sota pauses for a second, "They might be back by noon. It shouldn't be that long." He replies as he is halfway down the stairs. Inuyasha nods and turns around to go back inside the house. 'Let's just hope they have what Kagome needs. We can't waste any more time out here.' Inuyasha tells himself in annoyance.

Kagome and Mrs. Higurashi enter a waiting room where Kagome's appointment is taking place. The mother goes up to the window to inform one of the workers know that her daughter's here for her appointment. The office worker hands over a clip board full of what they need to know about Kagome in general health. After Mrs. Higurashi sits down by Kagome, she hands over the clip board to see if Kagome can fill out a few parts of the page. So far Kagome wrote down the address, date of birth, etc. All that was left is some of the more advanced information that Kagome couldn't understand herself. As such, she hands over what she couldn't write down on the page. Mrs. Higurashi smiles as she writes down the missing details on the page.

A few minutes later, a door opens. "Kagome Higurashi." A female worker calls out to the waiting room. Kagome and Mrs. Higurashi walk up to her. "Here." Mrs. Higurashi responds as they follow the worker to an empty room, and let them know that the doctor will be in shortly. Like any room for a typical patient, there's a bed, two seats. Posters with the ear and the inner workings. And the other tools.

As they wait, Kagome knows that she can't speak to the doctor directly. So her mother has to do all the talking. The door opens up to reveal a middle aged woman in a white lab. "Hello, Kagome. I'm Dr.Watanabe." She smiles to her nicely. Kagome shakes her hand. "I'm her mother, Ai Higurashi. Nice to meet you." Ai greets the doctor. "Pleasure to meet you." Dr. Watanabe shakes her hand with Ai's. "So it appears that you can't hear. Is that true?" Kagome nods shyly. "Oh don't worry, Kagome. I'm pretty sure we can get your hearing back. May I see the hearing aid you're wearing?" Dr. Watanabe asks the teenager.

Kagome takes out the hearing device and gives it to her. "Now this used to be your grandfather's, as I recall." Dr. Watanabe asks as she looks at the small device. "Yes. It's my father's spare. He made sure he had two in case one is out of battery life." Ai explains the reason. Dr. Watanabe nods. "I see. Well from the looks of it for sure. Don't mind I look into your ears, Kagome?" She gives the hearing aid back to her as she takes out the otoscope from the tray. Upon looking inside, so far the usual is being shown for the doctor. "The right ear is clear." She said so far. She goes into the left ear to see if there's anything different in that one.

When she places the otoscope into the ear lobe, she sees something. "Oh dear." She reclaims to the two. "What is it?" Ai asks her worriedly. Kagome sits still, curious for what made Dr. Watanabe so concern. "There's a bug in there." She remains calm, not to freak out Kagome. "What kind of bug is it?" Ai asks as she walks up to the doctor. The doctor hands over the otoscope to let Ai take a peek into her daughter's ear. Just as Dr. Watanabe said, there's a bug in there. "I've never seen a bug like this before?" Ai said in confusion. Dr. Watanabe looks inside the ear. "You're right. I've never seen anything like. Even an Entomologist wouldn't be able to tell us specifically." Kagome points to Ai's purse. Ai smiles, knowing what Kagome needs. Her cell phone. Ai digs into her purse and pulls out a smart phone to let Kagome type down something.

A few seconds later, Kagome shows the message to the doctor. "What does it look like?" the doctor reads out loud. She thinks back for what kind of bug it is that's still in Kagome's left ear. "It looked like some kind of bee. It had unusual coloring and red eyes." Dr. Watanabe gives the details of the insect to Kagome. Realizing what the doctor just told her, Kagome knows what that insect is. 'Naraku's Saimyoshi.' She figures it out the cause of her hearing lost. All that's left is to get it back.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Half way There

Kagome found out it was one of Naraku's poisonous insects that injures Miroku's Wind Tunnel whenever he use it. But never had one that can creep into her ear without realizing it until now. "So it's a bug that's affected my daughter's ear?" Ai asks the doctor when she told her what was inside Kagome's ear. Dr. Watanabe nods back. "Afraid so. And for this insect, I don't have the slightest idea what it is or its history. I don't know even is the best Entomologist would tell us what it is."

Ai looks down to Kagome. She types something down for her. 'Do you know what this is?' the screen shows the teenager. Kagome knows better that she can't just tell them about this insect. If such a thing got out, a lot of Entomologists would do whatever they did to get more into their research and make money. Kagome shakes her head no for her answer. "But are you able to get it out?" Ai asks the doctor. Dr. Watanabe smiles warmly. "Don't worry. I have the solution to get that little guy out." She goes into the cabinet and pull out a bottle of lidocaine. "This will kill it and it shouldn't hurt to get it out." She explains to Kagome nods as she tilts her head to the right so that Dr. Watanabe pour a small amount of lidocaine into the left ear.

Kagome groans with the effect of the liquid. As soon as the liquid touched the Saimyosho, Kagome wanted to scream because it's hurting her head. It's too bad her voice is gone so screaming isn't being heard around the building. Dr. Watanabe leans down to let her know that she needs to tilt her head the other way to the pan. Kagome holds in her silent cries as she tilts her head and shakes it vigorously. After a few shakes, the bug finally came out of her head. "Kagome, are you okay?" Ai asks worriedly. Kagome smiles as she can hear again. She immediately hugs her mom. Dr. Watanabe smiles as she looks down to the pan with the dead bug in it.

Kagome turns around to see that Dr. Watanabe about to touch the bug. Kagome quickly snatches the pan away. "Kagome?" The doctor is confused about Kagome's action. Kagome texted something down to show the doctor. 'Please. This is a very dangerous specimen. I don't want anyone to know any of this.' The screen tells her. 'Please don't tell anyone about this.' Kagome is begging with her eyes instead. Dr. Watanabe can see how adamant Kagome is about this. "Sure. You have my word." She nods as she takes Kagome's shoulder to let her know that she means it.

Kagome smiles as she just hugs her. 'Thank you.' She mouths her words. Dr. Watanabe smiles and returns the hug. Ai smiles at the scene in front of her. "Alright, sweetheart, we should get going." She speaks up so that Kagome could let go of the doctor who helped her recover her hearing. "Thank you for your help, Dr. Watanabe." Ai gives her gratitude as she and Kagome leave the room. "Anytime." The doctor replies back.

Ai and Kagome make it home by noon. When they enter the house, Inuyasha goes out of the living room. "So how did it go?" He asks the two. "Kagome got her hearing back, but we still have to get her voice. We haven't gotten that taken care of yet." Ai answers as she begins making tea for them. Inuyasha looks as Kagome and can see that something has been a bother to her since her appointment.

After lunch, Inuyasha comes up to Kagome's room to find her doing her schoolwork as usual. "Hey, is something wrong?" He asks her as he gets onto her bed. Kagome snaps the tip of her mechanical pencil. Hearing that made Inuyasha stiff a bit. Kagome goes into her purse that she took with her that morning. Inuyasha leans to see what she's going to pull out of the bag. Kagome looks up to him nervously. "What is it?" He asks her. Kagome sighs as she pulls out the compartment that had what was inside her ear. Inuyasha looks carefully when Kagome shows it to him. "Naraku's Saimyosho? How the hell did it get in your head?" He is now speechless.

Kagome gets her tablet that she and her mom got after their appointment. It's quite convenient for her. She begins to write down. 'It must've gotten in while we were sleeping at that inn.' Inuyasha read out loud. "Funny. I would've picked its buzzing if it was close by." He thinks back to that night. Kagome types down her next sentence. 'Maybe it crawled in. It might've cloaked itself to pass by us without even knowing it.' She shows the screen. "Did that doctor know anything about this?" Inuyasha asks her quickly.

Knowing him, Kagome wanted to make sure that the dangers in the feudal era wasn't known to the public eye of the present. 'No. She doesn't even know what it was. She even swore to secrecy.' Kagome types down. 'I can't let anyone else to know about this. If that happened, we'd be in real trouble.' She explains the possible outcome if it did happen. Inuyasha shakes, "This sucks. Well your hearing is back. That's good to know. All that's left is your voice. And once it's back, we can go back and find the shards." He speaks more confidently throughout that comment. Kagome shakes her head and hands over the compartment that has the dead Saimyosho. 'Give it to the guys back at Kaede's. Maybe there's something they can figure out back there.' Kagome shows the message on the tablet. Inuyasha agrees and runs his errand back to the feudal era through the bone eater's well.

Inuyasha hops out of the well in his time. He finds the village down the hill. "Hey, what took you so long?" Shippo complains to him. Inuyasha growls with annoyance in it. "Did you forget that Kagome and her mom went to the doctor in her time to get her voice and hearing back." He answers casually as Shippo climbs onto his shoulder. "Did it help?" Shippo asks hopefully. Inuyasha smiles a little. "For now Kagome has her hearing back. And I have the proof for how she lost her hearing in the first place." Shippo smiles in relief. "That's good to hear, literally. Anyway what's the proof?" Inuyasha chuckles. "Just wait till you see this, Shippo. You and the other are not going to believe what the proof I have brought back from Kagome's time."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: A Message

Inuyasha enters the hut where Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Kimi and Kaede are drinking tea. "Hey I'm back." Inuyasha calls out to them. Sango smiles as she puts down her cup. "How did it go? Has Kagome got her voice or hearing back yet?" She asks him as Inuyasha sits down. "So far Kagome is able to hear, which is good. But I have something that caused it in the first place." He responds as he digs into his kimono to pull out the compartment that has the proof. He hands it over to them. The first is Miroku.

Upon seeing it for what's inside of it, he didn't like it one bit. "Should've thought as much. Naraku was behind this alright." He passed it over to Sango. Sango does the same look. "How was it that weren't able to sense it. We would've been able to do so?" She hands to Kaede. Kaede uses her good eye. " Truth be told, this one must've cloaked itself with one of yours senses so that none of you wouldn't be able to tell." She explains deeper.

Hearing that made Inuyasha think for a moment. 'One of our senses? Hmm, this is definitely confusing.' He tells himself in his head. Thinking back to the time they were staying at the inn, Inuyasha would've been able to tell which one belonged to who. All that didn't add up so. But then something might've slipped his mind. Something is telling him that it might've been someone else he didn't know. "It could've been Kimi." He tells them calmly as he turns to dead child's direction.

Kimi is shocked. "Are you accusing me of doing that to Kagome? I was asleep in the sleeping bag that she let me and Shippo sleep." Miroku and Sango look angrily at Inuyasha. "Seriously Inuyasha? Do you have no sympathy to children? I'm disappointed." Sango tells him in retort. "There's no way she could've done that?" Miroku agrees with her entirely. Inuyasha glares back at the two adults. "Say what you will, but I know a scent when I smell one. And for what I know is that I know each of your scents." He tells them with a straight face as he crosses his arms.

Just hearing this, made Kimi so scared that she disappears in a blink of an eye. "See what I mean. You scared her." Sango sighs deeply. Shippo has had enough of the quarrel and runs out the door. "Shame on you, Inuyasha!" He shouts before running towards wherever the child disappeared to. "Serious, Inuyasha. You could've been more considerate about her." Kaede scolds him as well. Knows that this is going nowhere to the point of finding the truth. "If you don't believe then its your fault." He growls as he goes outside to clear his mind and head back to Kagome's time.

Shippo runs out to the fields "Kimi!? Where are you?" She shouts frantically as he slows down to a walk along the pathway of the rice fields. "That stupid Inuyasha. How cruel can he really be?" He growls as he closes his fists. Just hearing that stuff from Inuyasha's mouth was nothing but hurtful words. No, 'did you have anything to do with this?' or 'do you have any idea what caused this?" ever so nicely to the child. No. It was down hurtful words that scared her to death despite being death that she is. "And now thanks to him, we won't be able to get Kagome's voice back in time." Shippo said to him. He then hears sniffles from up ahead. Knowing fully well it's Kimi's he gets to the spot where she is crying, by a tree. "Kimi? Are you going to be ok?" Shippo kneels down to her.

Kimi raises her head, showing the tear stains on her cheeks. "I don't know if I should back to granny Kaede's hut?" She tries to talk clearly due to her hiccupping. Shippo knows how this is difficult for her. "I know. Sometimes Inuyasha can be a jerk sometimes. But that doesn't mean you had anything to do with that Saimyosho bug he brought back with him." Shippo assures her as he crosses his arms. "Saimyosho? What is that?" Kimi asks curiously. Shippo looks at her confused? "You don't know what that bug is?" He asks her. Kimi shakes her head for her answer. Using his fox magic, Shippo manages to duplicate the bug. "This is a Saimyosho. It's very poisonous and it effects Miroku's Wind tunnel." He explains to her. "That glove on his right hand?" Kimi asks him quickly. Shippo nods. "Yes. The problem is that one day his wind tunnel will grow big enough to suck himself in. And the Saimyosho are trying to get make that happen." He uses a demonstration to show her how it goes with his fox magic.

Just seeing it made Kimi so worried. "Oh no. We can't let that happen." She claims to him. Shippo nods back sadly. "Miroku has been using the wind tunnel one too many times. There's going to be one of those day. I just hope it doesn't." He sighs in the end. But then something crossed Kimi's head. "What about Kagome? How was she able to survive a Saimyosho in her ear?" She asks him. Shippo holds his tiny chin for a few minutes. "Well if my theory is right, Kagome's spiritual powers might've protected her from death. All that bug could've done is to make her not being able to hear." He comes up with his little idea.

Back in the present, Kagome sneezes a little. "You okay, sis?" Sota asks her. Kagome nods back. 'Someone's talking about me. That's for sure.' She thinks to herself since she can't speak. So far they're just doing their chores around the house. While Kagome is doing the dishes, Sota clears the table. Just when Kagome did the last piece of silverware, "Kagome." Ai calls out to her. Kagome automatically walks into the living room where her mother called her from. "I just got off the phone with Dr. Watanabe and she's giving our next appointment to her colleague Dr. Toshi. According to her, Dr. Toshi is skilled in the vocal cords of humans, and thought that this might be a good idea to see what's wrong with them." She explains to her. Kagome just smiles and nods to let Ai know that she's more than excited to see this new doctor. She writes something down onto the table. 'When is my appointment?' It shows to the mother.

Ai's smiles shrinks down. "The problem is that Dr. Toshi is out of town for the week because of a death in the family. She won't be back until next weekend. Until then, use your tablet to communicate with us." She speaks in a disappointed tone. Kagome didn't see this coming. Just now her mom just found a solution, but then, she's out of town for the week. 'So much for that.' Kagome looks down sadly as she walks up to her room.

Seeing Kagome in such a state is heartbreaking. "Mom, did something happened?" Sota asks her as he comes in. "It's nothing to worry about Sota. Go get ready for bed. You have school tomorrow." She pats his back up the stairs. "What about Kagome? Is she going to school tomorrow?" He turns to look over his shoulder. "That's up to her." Ai responds as she gets her belongings in the living room and to her bedroom.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Real Culprit

Kagome is already in her pjs. She was so thrilled for this issue to be taken care of, but then it all goes down. 'This sucks for sure.' She groans in frustration. The window opens up to reveal Inuyasha coming in. Kagome types something down onto her tablet 'What happened?' Inuyasha read it out loud. "When I showed the group the cause of your deafness. They weren't shocked to know about it." He explains to her. Kagome types down her next sentence. "Do you know who could've done to make me go deaf?" Inuyasha reads it. "For what I could gather, the only one I figure out was Kimi." He tells her so far. Kagome types again, 'Seriously? You believe it's Kimi who did this to me?' She raised her eyes in suspicion.

Inuyasha covers his eyes in irritation. "I don't believe, I know it was her who did this. You're just like everyone else. You doubt me even though the evidence prove it." He crossed his arms as he turns his back on her. Kagome didn't see this coming. Now she feels bad. She types down something on the tablet. She taps his shoulder to get his attention. All he does is turn his head over the shoulder. 'I didn't mean it. I was just worried about everyone else's opinion on your claim.' She sits back down onto her desk chair. Inuyasha sits onto the floor with his back on the bedside.

Seeing what she's doing, Inuyasha got a question. "Are you going to school tomorrow?" Kagome tilts her head down. She types her answers. 'I don't know. I've been falling behind for far too long. It's important I stay with the topics.' That answer may be a good one or bad. The bright side is that Kagome doesn't know if she should go. The not so bright is the keeping up with what's going on. So it's a fifty-fifty chance for each one.

Thinking she has all she could do with her studies, she turns around to turn off the light from the switch. She gets into her bed. She is about to set her alarm but Inuyasha snatches it first. She gives him a stink eye. "No way. I'll be the one to wake you up. That alarm thing of yours is annoying as hell." He explains why he hates that thing so much. All Kagome does is shakes her head and then turns to her other side to get comfortable. "Good night." He tells his nicely before going to sleep. Little did he know, Kagome mouth her good night back to him.

At around midnight, Inuyasha opens his one golden eye to check to see Kagome still asleep due to her balanced breathing. Knowing that's it good to go, he quietly opens her window, steps out and closes it behind him so that Kagome won't get cold overnight. He jumps into the bone eater's well and hop out into his time. Knowing that it's dark out, he makes his way to Kaede's village. He enters to see that his friends are sleeping. He looks around and can't find Kimi. 'Should've though as much.' He slips outside to jump into the bare tree he likes to sit on. When he gets comfortable, he flexes his ears to pinpoint anything unusual is happening close by.

What seems like forever something makes a sound, he detects something. Fixing the sound he looks in the direction where it's coming from. He jumps down and makes a run for it. He ends up in the forest from the other side of the village. He then sees something beyond the trees. To make sure he isn't spotted, he make sure the wind doesn't blows his scent towards them. He then sees someone. It's none other than Kimi.

"Have you done what I told you?" A new voice speaks to her. Kimi nods quietly. "So far I was able to make sure Kagome couldn't speak or hear anything." Kimi replies for what she did so far. "I'm afraid that somehow Kagome is able to hear again. Did you go against our agreement?" The voice somehow sounded disappointed. Kimi shakes her head. "No I didn't. I don't know how she got her hearing back all of sudden." She explains to the other person. The person she's preferring to is wearing a cloak of some kind so that no one would be able to see the face. "Ok, so then can you explain to me how she got her hearing back?" The voice is a female's.

Kimi thinks back that day. "There was something that was in Kagome's ear. Some kind of bug." She describes to her. The cloaks figure kneels down in front of the child. She puts her hand onto Kimi's head. Inuyasha narrows his eyes to look carefully to see what the cloaked figure is doing. Soon enough the two of them glow in white. 'What is she doing?' He asks in thought. The glow fades away as the cloaked figure stands up. "I see now. It looks someone is after Kagome and is doing whatever it takes to make sure it stays that way. Don't worry my child. I'll see to it that it won't fail this time." She spoke confidently this time before disappearing in front of Kimi.

Inuyasha knew it was Kimi all along. But he had to stay low and not to scare her off like the last time he did. There's no way he's going to let that happen again. Not by a long run. 'So whoever that person was, she was the one who has been controlling. I bet that's why she knows about Kagome not being able to talk. The only one question is why would she do it thought? I'll have to wait and see for myself.' He zips out of the forest and then back into well to Kagome's time.

Upon exiting the well house, he looks up in the sky to see it's still dark outside. He opens Kagome's window and enters in quietly. He closes it behind him. He takes a peek on her alarm clock that he snatched before going to sleep. It said it's a little pass 2 in the morning. 'At least I wasn't gone that long.' He smiles as he sits by her bed and goes to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: A Phone Call

The next morning, Inuyasha wakes up before the alarm goes off. Luckily it wasn't going go off in the next five minutes. So instead he turned off the clock's mechanism. To make sure it's off, he puts it back onto Kagome's nightstand. Seeing her still sleeping he leaves her alone to go downstairs. He comes into the kitchen to find Ai making coffee. "Oh. Morning." He greets her quietly. Ai smiles back, "Morning, Inuyasha. Is Kagome asleep still?" She asks him as she begins to make some breakfast for him. "Yeah. She's still not up yet." He replies back to her. Ai frowns without showing it to him. "You okay?" He asks her in concern. "I just don't know rather or not she should go to school today or not. Seeing that she can hear again, there's no telling if she's going to have to communicate with the others with that tablet of hers." She explains to him.

Inuyasha looks down a little before looking back up to the door that leads into Kagome's bedroom. "Did you take her to that doctor who was able to get her hearing back due to that bug in her ear?" He asks her curiously. Ai turns around sending a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. "I did. You see there are other doctors who specialized in other fields of the human body. The one Kagome and I went to was know for ears. Which is why it was easy for her to recover Kagome's hearing." She adds in the topic.

The door opens and closes as the person comes downstairs. "Oh Morning." Ai greets her daughter. Kagome shows up in a robe to stay warm. She types down her tablet. "Morning you two." She greets back. Inuyasha can tell that she's still tired. "Do you want to go to school or not?" Ai asks the question. She needs to know as soon as possible. Kagome types her answer. "No. Because of my condition, I won't be able to interact with them at all. Even if a teacher asks me a question, I won't be able to speak out the answer." Ai reads it out loud. "You have a good point there, Kagome. Not being able to speak can be a real bothersome." Ai nods as she serves a plate of scrambled eggs to her as well. "All we have to do now is to find a throat specialist who can help you get your voice back."

After taking her first bite, Kagome types again. "Did the doctor who did my hearing tell us about someone who would do that?" Ai frowns again. "She did, but according to her, that doctor is out of town because of a personal reasons. There's no telling when she will get a call from that doctor." Just hearing that made Inuyasha frustrated. "This is just a waste of time. We should've had Kagome's voice back by now." He calmly freaks out so not to scare the two women in the kitchen. Kagome glares at him as she types something down. "Inuyasha if I had my voice I would've sit you by now." She shows the tablet's screen. Ai turns to Inuyasha in the same matter. "Inuyasha I don't like doing this, but has your mother ever taught you any patience?" She gently scolds him.

That one question made Inuyasha leave the house, slamming the door. That slam made Kagome remember what he told her earlier when they met. She types quickly. "Mom, that went too far. Inuyasha lost his mother when he was a child. And his father died by the time he was born. So cut him some slack." She shows the screen with a disappointed look on her face. Ai covers her mouth. "Oh I had no idea, dear. I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me." She apologizes to her daughter. Kagome sighs as she goes outside to find the hanyou.

When Kagome left the house, the phone rings. Ai comes up to the phone ID to see it's the number she called Dr. Watanabe. "Hello, Higurashi Residence. This is Ai speaking." Ai answers the phone call. "Hello, Mrs. Higurashi this is Dr. Watanabe." The doctor speaks on the other line. "Oh, hello. What can I do for you?" Ai asks nicely. "I'm calling to let you know that the doctor that I mentioned earlier has return on such short notice." Dr. Watanabe gets to the point of the call. "Oh that's great to hear. Not that I'm bragging." Ai smiles back in relief. "That's what I also want to talk to you about. Is Kagome at school today?" the doctor asks. "No. She decided to stay home because of not being able to speak. It'd be wrong of me to make her go." Ai replies honestly.

"I see. Well I just want to know if it's alright that me and my colleague swing by to come visit you and your daughter some time this afternoon?" Dr. Watanabe asks the mother. Ai is a bit confused. "It might be okay, but I thought it'd be best to visit your colleague in her office." She explains the purpose of visiting the doctor's office.

"Normally that's true. But my colleague is a traveling doctor and she takes her practice with her wherever she goes." Dr. Watanabe chuckles. "Oh Ok. I had no idea about her career." Ai didn't see that coming. "So around 2 in the afternoon? My colleague's last patient lives close to your address." Dr. Watanabe suggests to her. "I'd like that so much. I'll let Kagome know as well." Ai agrees with her terms. "That's great to hear. We'll see you then." That's when the doctor hung up the phone. Ai smiles more, finally having the chance to help Kagome get her voice back.

Kagome runs around the shrine grounds. 'Ugh, if only I had my voice, I'd shout from the top of my lungs to call him." She groans knowing that's it hopeless with that fact. She comes to the Sacred tree. She looks up to the branches to any of them is being occupied. Even though the rising sunlight going through the leaves would've been easier for her to see inside the tree's branches. None of them has Inuyasha resting on any of them. 'Seriously, Inuyasha.' She sits against the trunk. 'Knowing him, he must've gone back to the feudal era. Maybe he can sulk out there.' She stands up to go back inside to change into more appropriate clothes for the day instead of her usual school uniform.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Blocked

Kagome dresses in a nice pair of blue jeans with a nice floral shirt. After getting her hair untangled, She makes it to the kitchen getting off the phone. "Oh Kagome. That was Dr. Watanabe. You know the one who helped you get your hearing back." Ai reminds her. Kagome nods as she sits back onto a kitchen table chair. She types something onto her tablet. "So what did she want?" The tablet spoke instead of her. Ai takes her seat across from her. "She called to let me know that her colleague is back in town and she is more than willing to come here to help you out." Ai explains the phone call to her. Kagome tilts her head as she types something on the tablet. "But doesn't her friend have an office of her own?" It tells the mother. Ai chuckles softly. "She's more of a traveling doctor. She takes her business with her." Kagome understands it now. "So when will she be here?' The tablet screen shows to the older woman. "According to Dr. Watanabe, her friend might swing by this afternoon." Ai gives her answer to Kagome as she stands back up to get a few things taken care of around the house.

When Kagome got back into her bedroom to resume more of her schoolwork, her window opens up to let Inuyasha in. She grabs the tablet. 'Where did you go?" The table speaks to him. Inuyasha gets onto her bed to sit Indian style with the Tetsusaiga on the floor. "I just had to go a run." He only replies back to her. Kagome types down her next question. "Here or the Feudal Era?" She was curious. "Back in the past. Don't worry. I wouldn't even think around running in your time. Like you said, it's not my place to go to get unnecessary attention." He assured her. Kagome nods back and then turns around to resume her school work. Inuyasha sighs as he leaves the room. He makes it into the kitchen. "Oh hello, Inuyasha. Do you need anything?" Ai asks him nicely as she puts away the dishes from this morning. "I just need some water if you don't mind." Inuyasha asks her politely. Ai nods back as she begins to go into the cabinet to get a glass for him. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha." She murmurs quietly, but Inuyasha heard her loud and clear. "For what?" He asks her confused. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. You know me talking about your mother. I had no idea that she passed away when you were young." Ai spoke specifically. Inuyasha gets it. "Ah. Hey it's okay. You had no idea about my past. But yes, ever since she died, I was left all alone. I had to do to survive until I met your daughter." Inuyasha forgives her immediately. Ai smiles as she gives the glass with water and ice in it. "If it weren't for Kagome, I wouldn't know where I would belong." He comments in the end. Ai nods. "You should be grateful for her to be in your life, Inuyasha. Even though she's living a double life, she is trying her best to stay on track with her studies while helping you guys get the jewel back together. I have to tell you this, it can be quite hectic." She advised him and leaves the room. Just hearing that made Inuyasha think deeply about it. 'I should be more considerate about her life instead of my own.' He thinks to

A few hours later, the doorbell alerts the mother. Ai gets up from the couch and answers the door. When she opens it, it was Dr. Watanabe and another doctor right by her. "Hello, Mrs. Higurashi." Dr. Watanabe greets her. Ai smiles, "Welcome, welcome. Come on in." Ai gestures them. The two doctors enter the house. "Would you like anything to drink?" Ai offers her hostess skills to the two visitors. "I'd like some water please." Dr. Watanabe requests. "and for you Dr. …" Ai kind of forgot the doctor's name. "It's Dr. Tanaka." The other doctor introduces herself. "And I'd like some tea." Dr. Tanaka gives her request as well. Ai smiles as she prepares their drinks as the two doctors go into the living room. After sitting on the couch, Ai arrives with a tray of their drinks and iced water for herself. "So where is Kagome? She should be able to hear us after you helped her out, Mai." Dr. Tanaka points out. Mai Watanabe chuckles, "True."

Ai smiles. "I'll go get her." She makes her way to Kagome's bedroom. After knocking, Ai opens the door to see Kagome working on her school work. "Kagome, dear." Ai comes to her. Kagome turns around to see her mother. "We have our visitors who would like to talk to you. Could you come down?" Ai asks as she holds her daughter's shoulder. Kagome nods as she gets the tablet.

Ai and Kagome come into the living room to meet the doctors. "Hello there, Kagome. I see you're doing great." Dr. Watanabe greets her. "And I want you to meet my colleague Dr. Miyuki Tanaka." She introduces the teenager. "It's nice to meet you, Kagome." Dr. Tanaka

offers her hand. Kagome shakes her hand. Afterwards she types down something on the tablet. "It's indeed nice for sure." Dr. Tanaka smiles again. "You have such a sweet daughter, Mrs. Higurashi. I take it she gets that from you." She states to the mother. "Mostly. So can we get my girl's voice back." Ai smiles in responds.

Dr. Tanaka nods. "Of course." She pulls up her traveling doctor's back. "Kagome could you sit next to me so I can take a look inside your throat?" She asks as she pulls out a popsicle stick. Kagome obeys and sits by the doctor and opens her mouth. Dr. Tanaka pressed the stick against her tongue so she can see what could be wrong with her throat. She pulls out the stick out. "Anything?" Ai asks her. Dr. Tanaka digs back into her bag to pull out what looked like a very thin tube. "What's that?" Ai asks her curiously. "This here is a duodenum. This will show us what's inside her throat. It's painless." Dr. Tanaka explains the medical device. "Kagome could you open your mouth. Kagome opens up wide enough for the device to smoothly go in.

Reaching towards the area where the vocal chords are located, Dr. Tanaka flashes a photo of it. "What was that for?" Ai asks her. Dr. Tanaka safely and carefully took out the duodenum. "That's all I need. The device will display the voice box and compare it to a regular one to see if there's anything missing in her voice box." She explains as she cleans out the tube. She pulls out the laptop and hooks up the USB drive cord to the device. A few seconds later, the monitor shows the two. "Huh? What's this?" Dr. Tanaka looks baffles. "What is it?" Dr. Watanabe asks her as she comes to her. "Look at that."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Just Like Before

As Kagome is waiting to see what exactly it is that is in her throat, the two doctors and Ai look at the image carefully. Feeling that she can't wait any longer, Kagome grabs the tablet. She types something down. "What is it that's in my throat?" The tablet shows the older women. That's when Dr. Watanabe had to confess what she and her colleague discovered. "Kagome, sweetie. Do you really want to what it is that's in your throat." The doctor asks her uncertain on how to answer this question. Kagome quickly types her answer. "Yes." The doctors show the image that Dr. Tanaka took inside.

Upon seeing it, Kagome widens her eyes in fright. 'No it can't be…' She begins to tremble. Ai instinctively holds her in her arms. "What's in her throat?" She asks the question. Kagome shows the image. Ai widens her eyes as well. 'There's no way." She's in shock that's for sure. "Kagome do you want to go get your friend and see if he still has the container?" She whispers quietly so that the doctors don't hear her. Kagome nods and heads upstairs to her bedroom.

Inuyasha opens his one eye after hearing the door opens up. "What's going on?" He asks her. Kagome types onto the tablet. "Do you still have the Saimyosho with you?" It shows the message. Inuyasha digs into his robe to get it. "Damn, I must've left it back with the others. Let me go get it." He bolts out of the room and straight into the bone eater's well. 'Hurry, Inuyasha. This can't be public knowledge.' Kagome pleas in her head.

Inuyasha jumps out of the well in the feudal era. He bolts to Kaede's hut. "Hey slow down." Miroku looks up to him. "Not now. Where's the item that had the Saimyosho in it?" Inuyasha looks around the hut frantically. "It's in here." Kaede lifts a hidden storage under the floor. Inuyasha didn't see that coming. "Great thanks. See you later." Inuyasha takes it and heads back to the well. He heads out of the well house in Kagome's time period. He leaps up to the windowsill. "Hey I'm back." He tells her. Kagome sighs in relief and grabs it and leaves the room.

Kagome calms down and pretends that she's not so anxious. She walks down the stairs to present the item. "Oh Kagome, there you are. Do you have the item?" Dr. Watanabe asks her politely. Kagome nods as she hands over the container. Dr. Tanaka looks to the item. "Is this what you found in Kagome's throat?" Dr. Watanabe asks the colleague. Dr. Tanaka nods sadly. "Afraid so." Kagome widens her eyes. Never in her life would she ever expected that a Saimyosho bug would not only get into her ear but also in her throat.

"Is there any way to remove it?" Ai asks the two doctors. The two look at each other. "There's one possibility." Dr. Watanabe comes up with one idea, so far. "And what would that be?" Ai asks anxiously. "It has to be surgically removed." Dr. Watanabe offers. "But will Kagome be able to speak again? I'm just worried that her throat would be to damaged due to the bug that got in there." Ai states to them. "Kagome, what do you want to do at this point?" Dr. Watanabe asks the girl.

Kagome had to think fast about this. She types her tablet. "Is there anything else other than that one option?" She shows the screen to them. "That's all we can do at this point. There's no telling if this is permanent damage to your throat. We need to get this taken care of as soon as possible." Dr. Tanaka answers her gently to make sure Kagome doesn't get scare about the situation. She types again. "Give me a few minutes." She excuses herself to go back into her bedroom.

Inuyasha spots Kagome in a down look on her face. "Hey what happened?" He asks her. Kagome types quickly. "It turns out that another Saimyosho got inside of my body. So far we gotten rid of the one in my ear. But this one might be terrible." The screen tells him. Inuyasha growls. "Damn. Naraku will stop at nothing to get rid any of us. I'll tell you that much." He shakes his head, until something crossed his mind. "Remember when I told you about Kimi? What I found out about her?" Kagome nods. "Maybe if I can see if she can help us out, we can get to the bottom of Naraku's plot." He explains to her.

Kagome is now reluctant about this. She cannot just tell the undead child about what she accused her of what might done to her. "I can't confront the child. Maybe if I could try something else for her to admit to see rather or not she knows someone who did this to me." She throws her one plan. Inuyasha knows that maybe Kagome could pull it off if it goes accordingly. "Let me give them my answer." Kagome leaves the room.

Just when Kagome is about to enter the living room, she overhears something. "So there's no other choice?" Ai asks first. "Afraid so, Mrs. Higurashi. If this thing sticks around any longer, Kagome might be a mute for the rest of her life." Dr. Tanaka confirms it to her. "If that's what it takes to get my daughter to speak again, we'll be over at your office first thing in the morning." Ai agrees in the end. Then Kagome walks in. "Oh Kagome. I didn't see you there." Ai turns around. "Anyway. Kagome, I know how difficult it is for you to accept this, but for what that thing did to your throat, you might not be able to talk ever again." Dr. Tanaka advices her. "And it's best that we can get you into surgery first thing in the morning." Kagome knows for now that she can't disagree with her. Let alone speak out her opinion. All she did is nod. As such she leaves the room and back into her bedroom to clear her mind about this ordeal.

Inuyasha turns around to see Kagome in a more sadden look than before. "What happened?" He asks her. Kagome types her tablet. "It turns out that they have to surgically remove the bug out of my throat. If that thing stays any long I won't speak every again." The tablet tells him. Inuyasha growls, "See this is why we need to go back to my time and tell our friends about this." He takes her hand. Kagome persists the grip. "What are you doing?" Kagome shakes her head. "I can't go. I have to stay here because of the surgery in the morning. I can't skip this." The tablet speaks to him. Inuyasha is now in a dilemma that even he can't solve.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Startling Revelation

The next morning, Ai has been informed by Dr. Watanabe and Dr. Tanaka that they are ready for Kagome's surgery. Kagome is now nervous. She'd ask herself, 'What if something goes wrong and I can't speak every again?' She is in the car with her mom as she drives themselves to the hospital where the surgery is taken place. Inuyasha on the other hand is following them stealthy as he leaps from one building after another until they reached the hospital.

Once getting out, Kagome and Ai walk up to the front desk of the first floor. "May I help you?" The receptionist asks them politely. "We're here for Kagome Higurashi's surgery." Ai explains to her. The woman types down which floor the surgery is on. "It's on the fourth floor. The elevator is on your left." She gives the directions. Ai and Kagome say their thanks as they enter the elevator. Ai presses the 4 button. "Don't worry, Kagome. Inuyasha is waiting for us on the roof. When you go into surgery, I'll bring him in ok." Ai comforts her daughter's shoulder. All Kagome could do is nod, pretending that everything will go well. The elevator opens up to reveal the two doctors in scrubs with hairnets on their heads to protect their hair. "Oh there you are, Kagome. Are you ready?" Dr. Watanabe asks her. Kagome nods as they follow them to her hospital room. "Make sure you change into this." Dr. Tanaka informs the teenager with a hospital gown.

Kagome takes the gown and changes peacefully in the bathroom. She comes out with her hair up in a pony tail. "You ready?" Dr. Tanaka asks her. Kagome nods shyly as she hops onto the stretcher. Dr. Watanabe puts a nose over Kagome's nose and mouth. "It's okay. It'll put you to sleep." She explains the device's purpose. Without thinking, Kagome's eyes begin to drop slowly until she's out cold. Ai watches as Kagome is being taken into the operating room. "She's in safe hands, Mrs. Higurashi." Dr. Watanabe assures her before turning around to assist the rest of the team.

As soon as the door closed, Ai takes the elevator and presses it to the 8th floor of the hospital. She comes out to find the door that leads her to the roof. She comes outside to look around. "Inuyasha? Are you here?" Ai calls out. "I'm here." Inuyasha responds as he hops off the roof of the door that Ai used to come outside. "Is she going to be ok?" He asks her. Ai nods. "Yes. It's going to be awhile, so if you want, you can go back to your time and tell your friends for what's going on." She suggests to him kindly. Inuyasha nods. "I'll inform them." He leaps back to the Higurashi Shrine by jumping from one building to the next. 'Knowing him, he doesn't want to be seen with his ears exposed.' Ai thinks to herself before heading back inside.

Inuyasha makes it to Kaede's hut. When he gets inside, this is not what he is expecting. Miroku, and Sango are bandaged up in various parts of their bodies. "What happened here?" He asks in surprise. "Inuyasha. Oh thank Kami that you're here." Kaede comes up to him with fear in her one eye. "What happened?" He repeats the question. "We were ambushed." Miroku answers it as he tries to sit up. "Ambushed. By who?" Inuyasha sits in front of them. "By someone we never seen before." Shippo comes around him as he brings in a bucket of water to Kaede. "Could you tell me how it went while I was gone?" Inuyasha asks more. Miroku starts "It happened since yesterday morning…"

_Flashback_

_The sun is beginning to rise over the mountains to signal a new day. As such the villagers begin to walk into the fields to begin their work. Miroku and Sango come outside. "Such a nice morning. Wouldn't you agree, Sango?" Miroku asks her as he begins to stretch his limbs. Sango does her own. "Most definitely." She agrees. That is until Kirara growls as her fur sticks out like needles. "What is it, Kirara?" Sango asks her feline companion. She surrounded herself in flames as she growls bigger into her sabre-toothed form. Soon enough, Sango felt uneasy. "What is it?" Miroku asks her. Sango narrows her eyes, "An evil aura is coming this way." She informs him. She bolts into the hut to change into her demon slayer outfit. Miroku grabs his staff. "What's going on?" Shippo asks them as he's rubbing his eyes. "You stay inside Shippo. The same goes for Kimi and Kaede. We don't want them to get hurt in this." Sango tells him seriously as she grabs her Hiraikostu. "But I want to help." Shippo protests her._

_Sango shakes her head. "No, not this time. Inuyasha isn't here. And so me and Miroku are going to do whatever it takes to protect you. So do as I say and stay inside." She reasons with his as she kneels down to his level. Shippo sighs in disappointment. "Ok. But please be safe out there." He begs her. Sango smiles a little. "You have my word." She leaves the hut. Soon enough Kimi reappears by his side. "What's going on?" She asks him curiously. "Sango and Miroku sense an evil presence coming this way." He answers her. Kimi looks outside. That's when her eyes widen. "What is it?" Shippo asks her. "I think I know who it is that's coming this way." She tells him nervously. "Well, what is it?" Shippo asks her frantically. Kimi disappears._

_After Kimi disappears, A figure leaps out of the forest that has the sacred tree. Once it landed, it was wearing a cloak, making it difficult for the monk and demon slayer to know who it is. "Who are you?" Sango demands it. All the figure does is look around the village. "I said who are you?" Sango demands this time. But it didn't faze it. "I'm just looking for a child." It spoke. More like a female's voice. "A child? We don't know if any of these children in this village belongs to you. They're not orphans." Miroku states to her. "No. No. I mean the child I'm looking for isn't alive. It's dead." The figure speaks more specifically this time. "Tell me, what is the child's name?" Miroku asks the cloaked figure. "The name is…" Just right before the figure spoke the name, Kimi reappears between. "I'm here okay." She cries out to the figure. "Kimi?" Miroku is now confused. "What's going on here Kimi? Do you know who this person is?" Sango asks her with her arms crossed._

_That's when the figure pulls the hood back to reveal herself. Shockingly the woman almost looks like Kimi but a few details point out that Kimi has something else but not from the woman. "I'm Kimi's mother, Wakana." She introduces herself. "Mother?" Miroku and Sango are shocked to see this. "So you're Kimi's mother?" Sango asks her. Wakana nods her head. "Yes, as you can see I'm dead as well so there's no use of fighting me. I'm just trying to get Kimi to come with me so we can go to where her father is." She explains to them. Sango looks down to the child trembling. _

_Naturally Miroku would do his job to send spirits to their final resting place. Especially is it's disturbed for some reason. Just when he about to take a step, "Don't, Miroku." Kimi warns him. Miroku raised his brow. "What are you talking about?" He asks her. Sango look carefully at Wakana. 'Something isn't right.' She confirms it. Wakana isn't showing any threat to anybody. "Kimi. Why aren't you coming? We have to go." She walks up to her. Kimi shakes her head, "No that's wasn't the deal. You promised me that if did my part you'd give back what's not yours." She shouts._

_That's when Sango and Miroku got suspicious about the child's outburst. "A promise? What are you talking about? I didn't make you any promises." Wakana declines it. But that's when Kimi scream in sheer terror. Her body begins to glow white as an unknown pressure blows everyone around her getting themselves hurt. Soon enough Miroku and Sango are left unconscious. Then all of a sudden both Kimi and Wakana disappear without leaving a single trace._

_End of Flashback_

Inuyasha widens his eyes. "So that woman who came here was for Kimi?" He sits down in the group. "Yeah, the only thing I don't get is that Kimi sounded scared about her. I just don't know why." Sango replies as sits up. "So while you guys are recuperating, I'm here to let you know that Kagome's in the hospital." He tells them his reason for coming. "For what?" Shippo asks him. "She's getting surgery in her throat. They think that the saimyosho had affected her voice box." He explains to them.

But then something crossed his mind. "Will the doctors succeed the operation?" Sango asks him nervously. Inuyasha shoves his hands into his leaves. "I have no idea. According to Mrs. Higurashi, it's going to be awhile." He answers them. The group nod to show that they understand. "I'll head back." Inuyasha stands up to leave. "What a minute." Miroku stops him. "Do you think you can pick up the scent of the woman who came here?" He asks the dog demon. "You guys have Kirara and Shippo. They should be able to pinpoint the scent." Inuyasha advices them. "We tried by we couldn't get it." Shippo walks up to him. Inuyasha grunts as he goes outside to sniff the area. He gets down to his hands and knees to pick up any traces of the scent. "No doubt about. I know what this scent is." He tells himself. But now does he either stick around here or head back to Kagome's time? There's no telling what the other is about to reveal more of.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: What's Important

Inuyasha goes back into Kaede's hut. "Back so soon?" Sango asks him baffled. "You won't believe what the scent smells like?" Inuyasha replies back. "Really what is it?" Sango asks him. "No doubt that it's Kimi's scent as well." He confirms it to her. "Kimi's? But does each person have a different scent?" Shippo asks him in surprise. "Normally that'd be true, but due to this issue, it'd be as if Kimi and the individual are one in the same." Inuyasha explains to him.

"So basically, that woman might've been an older version of Kimi." Shippo assumes to them. "No." Miroku crossed his arms. "Remember what Kimi said to the woman. She said that woman is her mother. I however find that hard to believe." He continues on his explanation. "What do you mean by that?" Shippo asks him. Miroku thinks for a second. "If I were to know if they are really related is by their spiritual DNA. But for the way that Inuyasha said earlier that mother isn't really Kimi's mother at all." He tells them serious all the way through.

Soon enough Kimi reappears in the middle of the group. "Hey you're back." Kimi smiles at him. Inuyasha holds his expression of hatred for the sake of the child. "Yeah. What is it that you want?" He crossed his arms. "You have to help me." Kimi begs him. "With what exactly?" Inuyasha raised his eyebrow. "You have to follow the scent of the person that tried to take me." Kimi waves her arms. "And why should I help you?" Inuyasha leans close to the child's face. "From the looks of it, you could be aiding us or…" Miroku and Sango cover his mouth. "Don't risk, you jerk." Sango glares at him.

"I know what I did was wrong." Kimi admits to him. "I didn't want to do it but it was the only way to protect my mother. The woman who came was someone else who looked like my mommy. When she came close enough, I knew that she's wasn't her. That's why when I get scared, I scream and blast her away. There's no telling when it might happen again." Just hearing that made the group take in like a new discovery is to remain hidden.

"So you want me to stick around to get the scent's pinpoint so we can track it and find where its whereabouts could be." Inuyasha asks her. Kimi just nods. "I don't know. I need to go to Kagome's time to make sure she's okay. I just don't when the surgery will be over." Inuyasha tells her in uncertainty. Hearing that made Kimi look down in disappointment. "What's wrong, Kimi?" Shippo walks up to her. "I just want Inuyasha to help my mommy." She sniffles her answer.

Inuyasha kneels down to the child's level. "Listen to me Kimi, I know it's hard. But our first priority is to get Kagome better as fast as possible. Without her, we'd not getting much." He reasons with her. "Kagome is the one person who is capable to help us to get your mommy back." Kimi nods as she disappears. "I think she understands now. You go back to Kagome's time." Miroku advices him. Inuyasha nods and leaves the hut.

Kagome comes to see she's in a room. "Oh, thank goodness." A voice makes her turn her head to see it's Dr. Watanabe. Before Kagome could open her mouth to say something, Dr. Watanabe shakes her head, "Your voice wasn't easy to do. But we managed to pull it off." As such she gives Kagome her tablet. Kagome types down something. 'How long will it take for me to speak again?' The tablet screen shows the doctor. "It might take a few days for it to be fully healed." She answers after sighing.

Kagome looks down in disappointment. She types something. 'And here I thought I'd be able to speak immediately.' She shows the screen to Dr. Watanabe. The doctor can see how hard it is on her. "Hey, it's nothing to worry about. Even after surgeries, it takes time for the part to be fully heal so you can use it again." She tries to cheer her as she takes the girls shoulder. All Kagome could do is nod and turns her head away. Figuring that she's not needed at the moment, the doctor leaves the room.

In the waiting room, Ai Higurashi waits patiently. All she's been doing is either reading book she brought with her, or reading the newspaper. "Ai Higurashi." Dr. Watanabe comes up to her. Ai looks up to her. "How's Kagome?" She asks quickly. "She's okay. She just woke up from the surgery. She can't speak for the time being. Having her voice recover is a critical task. I've subscribed a medicine that is meant to help her recover quickly. But in the meantime, let her use the tablet to communicate with you or anyone else." The doctor hands over a subscription. "Just go to your pharmacy and pick it up." She advices the mother. "I understand. Anyway, can I see my daughter?"

Dr. Watanabe nods. "Of course. This way." She guides the mother down the hallway to the room where Kagome is. "She's in here." She tells her before leaving. Ai sighs as she opens the door quietly. Upon entering, she sees Kagome fiddling on the tablet. "Kagome, dear." She speaks softly. Kagome looks up to her. She types something down. 'Did the doctor help you out with anything?' She shows the screen to her mom. Ai nods as she takes a seat by Kagome's bed. "Yes. She has given a subscription to pick up your medicine to speed your recovery." She answers the daughter's question. Kagome understands as she types something down. 'Could you go back home to see if Inuyasha has returned?' She shows the question. Ai smiles as she takes out her cell phone. "Let me call grandpa to give him the heads up."

Back at the Higurashi house, Grandpa Higurashi is reading his paper until the phone rang. He picks it up. "Hello, Higurashi residence." He speaks into the phone. "Hello, father." Ai speaks on the other end. "Oh Ai. How is Kagome?" He asks curiously. "She's doing well. She can't talk for the time being. She wanted to know if Inuyasha has returned." Ai gives the message. "No he hasn't come back yet." He answers casually. "If you would, when he gets back, give me a call and I can bring him to the hospital to see Kagome." She suggests the idea. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that." He assures her. "Thank you. I'll talk to you later." Ai hangs up the phone. Grandpa Higurashi hangs up the house phone.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Being Positive

Just when Grandpa Higurashi hung up the phone, the door opens. "Hello?" He calls out to the unknown visitor. "It's just me." Inuyasha replies as he enters the kitchen where the Grandpa was on the phone with Ai. "Oh. You came in just in time." Grandpa sighs as he digs into one of the drawers in the kitchen. "What are you looking for?" Inuyasha asks him. "I'm looking for your hat because Kagome woke up from her surgery." Grandpa answers. "Ok." That's when the grandparent went upstairs. "Where are you going?" Inuyasha follows him to a bedroom. Upon entering, Inuyasha can detect that it's Ai bedroom. "Why are you snooping in your daughter's bedroom?" He leans on the doorframe.

Grandpa Higurashi goes into the closet. "I happen to hang onto my son-in-law's old wardrobe." He responds as he pulls out a pair of sandals. "Put those on." He tells the hanyou before going back into the closet. Inuyasha raised his eyebrow. "Those? I've never wore a pair of footwear in my life." He refuses the offer. That's when Grandpa comes out with a glare. "You never wore a pair in your life?" He asks in disbelief. Inuyasha walks up to him to show his own feet. "Ever since I was child, I was never given a single pair." He shows his one foot as he sat on the side of the bed.

All Grandpa does is shake his head. "That's must've been hard on you when you travel around the land." He comments as he takes the pair. "Nah, I gotten used to it throughout my life." He crossed his arms. "Hate to say this but there's a strict rule at the hospital that people have to wear footwear." He adamantly tells the fact. "Why should I?" Grandpa has reached the end of his patience. "Now you listen here. You are going to wear these sandals. And that's final." He glares at his face at a close proximity.

Inuyasha groans as he reluctantly takes the pair. "Fine." He admits defeat. He looks at the pair carefully. He can detect the faintest scent of the unknown owner. "So, these were your son-in-law's pair?" He asks as he puts them on. Surprisingly they fit like a glove "Yeah. But he passed away after Sota was born." Inuyasha quickly turns to the elder. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Ever since I met Kagome she never once said anything about him." He said pitifully. "Don't worry. You should leave." He pats Inuyasha's shoulder.

Inuyasha nods as he goes to the coat rack to get his hat to cover his ears. "What about Sota?" He asks curiously. "He's in school. And he can't be home along when he gets here." Grandpa explains to the boy. Inuyasha nods as he leaves the house. 'Honestly, he's quite stubborn.' He comments to himself as he goes back to his newspaper.

Inuyasha leaps from one building after another. He was told that the hospital that was closest to the shrine was the one that Kagome's in. When he sees it. He jumps down to the alleyway on the street where the hospital is on. Walking casually, he makes it to the main entrance of the building. He has never been to a hospital before. "Oh, Inuyasha. There you are." Ai calls out to him. "How did you know I was here?" He asks as he walks towards her. "I just got a call from father that you were on your way." She answers as she leads him to the elevator. "How's Kagome?" He asks another question. "She's still weak and her voice is recovering, but she isn't to talk, otherwise it might get worse." She answers as they walk to the room where Kagome is recovering.

Kagome is fiddling on her tablet, trying her best to pass the time. The door opens up to allows someone to enter. Kagome places the tablet down and watches the incoming visitors coming in. "Hey there, sweetheart. How are you feeling?" Ai walks up to her and gives her a hug. Kagome returns it and types her answer on the tablet. "I'm okay." It shows. "You know I'm not the only one here." Ai smiles at her. All Kagome could do is raise her eyebrow. Ai looks towards the door. "Ok you can come in." She calls out to the unknown person.

Soon enough Inuyasha walks in cautiously. Not familiar with the various smells of the building has gotten his nose feeling uneasy. But the one scent he prefers the most is Kagome. He sees her in the hospital bed. So far he sees her neck being casted up. "Hey." He greets in murmur. Kagome sighs as she gestures him to come to her. "I'll leave you two alone." Ai tells them as she leaves the room. When the door closed, Kagome types down something. "How are things in the feudal era?" She shows the screen. Inuyasha comes to the one side and sits down. "They're recovering from an assault." He answers her. That made Kagome widen her eyes. "Are they okay? They're not dead, right?" She types her question. Inuyasha nods back. "Don't worry. They're fine. It turns out that the person who came was after Kimi." He explains to her.

Kagome is now confused. "Kimi? Why was the person after her?" The tablet shows the question. "It turns out that she knows Kimi." Kagome is stunned. "How?" The tablet screen asks. "The woman told her that she's her mother." Inuyasha answers as he crossed his arms. "But I doubt it though." He gives his opinion. "How?" The tablet asks him. "It just that the mother was corrupted." He comments. "From what Miroku told me, that the woman is also dead, but was being controlled by someone."

Kagome holds her chin for a second. "Do you think it might've been Kagura's dance of the dead technique?" She types it on the tablet. "There's that option." He replies. "Well there's the saimyosho that got into my throat and my ears. That's proof enough that Naraku is behind all of this and wanted Kagura to manipulate the dead mother." The message pops onto the screen. Inuyasha nods, "Good point. From what's been going on lately, Kagura might be trying to control Kimi but somehow she's been trying to get away from them."

Inuyasha looks outside. Seeing how the weather is mimicking his emotions in unknown at the moment. Kagome tucks his sleeve to get his attention. He turns around to see her showing her tablet. "You should tell the group about this. We can be certain that Naraku is up to something that we don't know about." Kagome recommends him. Inuyasha knows for she might be right. "For what you said might be true. We just need to know why Naraku would do this. I'll have to go back and tell them this." He agrees. But Kagome shakes her head. "Please don't leave." She types the tablet. "When I came too from my surgery, I felt so vulnerable. I thought that I wouldn't make it through." As such her eyes begins to shed tears.

Inuyasha didn't see that coming. Never had he ever hear Kagome speak, more like type down that she was scared throughout this time. "You do know that I'd never leave you behind." He said as he holds her shoulder. Kagome nods back. But before she could type down her next sentence, Inuyasha embraces her in his arms. "No more of this self-doubt, Kagome. You mean everything to me, your family, and our friends. There's no denying that." All Kagome could do is wrap her arms around his torso.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Better Idea

A few hours have passed since the event between Inuyasha and Kagome. It's near the evening hours, and Inuyasha didn't even left her sight. All they did was try to figure about what Inuyasha told her earlier about the encounter of Kimi's so called 'Mother'. But they cannot be certain for sure until they get further detail about it. The door opens up to reveal Dr. Watanabe. "Oh, Kagome. It's nice to see you recovering. I have something for you." She walks up to her. She digs into her lab coat pocket and hands it over to her. Kagome sees that it's a charm. "What is it?" Inuyasha asks for her.

"That there is a seal charm." The doctor answers him. "Seal charm? Never heard of those before." Inuyasha comments as he looks at it as it lies on Kagome's hand. "I thought that I might give you a souvenir once you leave." Dr. Watanabe said to them. Soon enough, Ai comes into the room. "Kagome." She smiles in relief. "I just got your medicine." She informs her daughter. "You did already?" Inuyasha asks in surprise. Ai nods. "Yes, you see, there's new medicines that are more efficient." Ai explains to him. "So, when can Kagome go home?" Inuyasha asks her. That's when the doctor frowns. "She's to stay here for a few days. I was able to remove the problem inside of her throat, but it needs time to recuperate so she can speak again." She explains the aftermath.

Inuyasha wasn't thrilled to hear that. He turns around to see how down Kagome is at this point. "Is there any way to speed up the recovery?" He asks her desperately. "All that we can offer her is the medicine that her mother picked up earlier." She answers honestly. "I'd say about the end of this week would be a good time for her to be discharged." She cheers that up.

Soon enough the doctor leaves the room so that the family can figure out on what to do next. "So, what do you have in mind, Inuyasha?" Ai asks him, getting his attention. "Could I see the medicine you picked up?" he asks her. Ai hands over the bottle. Inuyasha reads the instructions, ingredients, and side effects of the medicine. "Typical." He comments to her as he hands over the bottle back to the mother. "Well, that's how medicine does to the one who takes it." She explains the purpose of the medicine.

Inuyasha's sleeve is tucked. Inuyasha turns around to see Kagome showing what she wrote on the tablet. "I bet you had better remedies than what I I'm taking." He reads it out loud. Ai looks over his shoulder to read it as well. "Hey you might have something from you're from that can be better than this bottle." She agrees with Kagome's idea. Remembering the time that Kagome was down with the cold, he used his mother's medicine and it pulled it off. "I think I might know something that can actually help. I won't be gone." As such he leaves the room.

Inuyasha hops out of the well. When he lands, a smell gets his attention. "There's no way that she'd be here." He makes a run for the direction where the scent is coming from. He rushes out of the thicket of the forest until he comes into the open. He sees something up ahead. But it's not what Inuyasha is expecting. Up ahead is a person who does smell graveyard soil but there's not a single soul collector around as well. "I see you found me." The person spoke. Judging by the voice it's a female's voice. "Who are you?" Inuyasha demands the woman. "So impatient. Just like what he said to me. I'm Wakana." She gives him her name. 'Wakana. I think Miroku told me earlier. What a minute.' "You're Kimi's mother aren't you?" He speaks more demanding.

That's when Wakana look at him confused, "You know my daughter already. Who told you that?" She is surprised. Inuyasha can tell she's not a threat, as of yet. But he does keep his guard up. "It doesn't matter who told me. All I know is that you work with Naraku." He shouts at her. Wakana didn't see this coming. "And what if I am?" She asks him coldly. "Just tell me what Naraku wanted you to do." Inuyasha said to her. He keeps a close eye on her. But then something shiny gets his attention. "What's that?" He points to the item. Wakana looks down to the item that Inuyasha is pointing to. "Oh this is just a locket. Nothing more." She simply holds it up to him.

Inuyasha narrows his eyes as he sees that locket is glowing pink. 'I beg to differ that's a shard's glow. It might've been sent inside that locket of hers.' He claims. "I see. But I want to know why Kimi refused to come to you when you came to the old's priestess's village?" Wakana tucks the locket back into her kimono. "It's because I had to protect her from that demon who attacked her while we were alive. But it turns out that the demon revived for a different purpose."

So far Inuyasha isn't convinced that she's telling him the truth. But on the other hand, if he could get anything else, he might be able to help her out. "How was it that you know my daughter?" Wakana asks him. Inuyasha stuffs his hands into his sleeves. "My friend found her because she's a priestess which gave her the ability to see the dead or souls of those who passed on…" He continues on until the part Kagome is recovering. "Oh no. I had no idea. My daughter is a sweet kid. I know she can be a bit snippy a few times, but nothing like this." Wakana retorts to him. "Anyway, I need to make sure Kimi is okay. Wherever she is, I hope she's safe." That's when she vanished. Knowing that wasn't what he was expecting, Inuyasha decides to look for the items that he knows to help Kagome get her voice back.

Back in Kaede's village, Miroku and Sango are doing ok. "What was that all about?" Miroku asks Sango as they gather water from the stream. "About Kimi freaking out?" Sango turns to him. "Yes. Somehow, whenever Kimi is frightened, her aura is damaged." He explains to her so far. "What about her soul is it also effected?" Sango asks him curiously. "Pretty much. But when Kagome was here, she was serene. Like nothing damaged it at all." But then that's when Miroku figured something out.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The Plan

Inuyasha heads back to Kaede's village after leaving the hospital. He sees Miroku and Sango talking to Shippo, more like whispering. "How are you guys doing?" He asks them as he approaches them. "We just came up with something." Miroku responds to him. "Like what?" Inuyasha asks the monk. "They want me to sneak up on Kimi. We think she might be the enemy." Shippo hops onto Inuyasha's shoulder.

That made Inuyasha crossed his arms. "So you finally realized that I was right all this time." He grins at them. "Not yet. We have to find proof. If we do then you're right." Sango replies as she stands up. "And how is it that Shippo is going to sneak up on Kimi. When she disappears, she doesn't leave a trace." Inuyasha reminds them about the little soul.

Miroku chuckles. "Not anymore." He pulls a few scrolls out of his robe. "What are those?" Inuyasha ask him. "These scrolls how scents that Shippo can leave on them. Ever if Kimi disappears, the scrolls will leave the scent behind no matter how faint it is." Inuyasha takes one and rubs his other hand on it. "Take a whiff." He shoves it in Shippo's face.

Shippo sniffs it too quickly and jumps off Inuyasha's shoulder. "Ugh, Inuyasha what is that stench?" He coughs in the end. "What you're smelling are the random scents of the hospital that Kagome is recovering." He laughs at him. That's when Shippo jumps into the river. "No way I'm going to smell this." He shouts as he comes to the surface, trying his best to get rid of the smell.

"How long do you think that smell is going to last?" Miroku asks him. "I'd say about an hour. Now if you excuse me, I have some things to gather." Inuyasha is about to leave until Sango comes up to him. "Gather what?" She asks him curiously. "Back at the hospital Kagome kind wrote that I'd have a better way to get her voice to heal faster." Inuyasha turns to her. "Did she mean it or sarcastically?" Sango asks him as she raised her eyebrow. "I think she meant it sarcastically. That's why I'm gonna proof her wrong that even though her time has great doctors, she has no idea that I have a few remedies of my own to pull it off." He grins as he runs off.

When he was out of sight, Miroku walks up to her, "I think he might have an idea. Let him do his thing." He advices her before turning around.

Inuyasha rushes out to a meadow. "Now where is it?" He looks around. Just grazing the area isn't what he's here for. He's looking for something in particular. The wind picks up, waving the tops of the tall grass into a nice scene. That's when a scent gets his immediate attention. "There." He grins before leaping up and land to the spot where the scent is coming from. It was a herb. He picks it up and puts it in his kimono.

Back at Kaede's village, everyone is relaxing around Kaede's hut. All but a missing person; Kimi. "I wonder Kimi is?" Kaede asks the group as she strokes the fire. "We haven't seen her in a while." Miroku responds to her. "So, is everything ready?" Kaede asks them as she sits down. "Yeah, pretty much, all we need is her not to know what we're doing." Sango replies this time as she strokes Kirara's back as she herself is trying her best to stay calm.

That's when Kaede digs in her kimono sleeve. What she pulls out made the group gasp. "What is that?" Sango asks her. All she does is hand it to Shippo. "Why don't you tell them, Shippo." She suggests to the fox kid. Shippo looks at it. "Oh, I know that this is. It's a mini video camera." He smiles up to them. Sango and Miroku look confused. "What does it do?" Sango asks him. Shippo smiles, "This let you videotape anything. And it can show it to other people to a device that has a screen so you see and hear what you caught on it." He tells them as he passes it over to her.

"But it's so small." Miroku comments the item's miniature size. "It's meant not to be noticed. According to Kagome, it's a spy item. We don't want Kimi to see it." Shippo explains it to him. Miroku hmms as he pulls out the scrolls that he showed Inuyasha earlier. "We should be able to conceal it so Kimi won't notice." He gives his idea. "And now we have to wait until Kimi shows up." As such they waited.

It did take long for Kimi to reappear in the hut. "What's going on?" She asks them. Everyone else had to stick to the plan. "Inuyasha came back." Miroku answers her. "Really? Where is he? I need to speak with him." Kimi comes to him pleadingly. Not a single person saw this coming. "He had to go get a few things for Kagome." Sango tells her nicely. That made Kimi frown. "Oh. Do you know when he'll come back?" She asks as she turns around. "We don't know." She puts her hand onto her shoulder. All Kimi could do is nod, and sits down by Shippo. Not just that, she falls asleep. Shippo motions Miroku to hand over the scrolls. Miroku digs into his robe and passes it over to him. Ever so carefully, Shippo presses the scroll onto Kimi's back.

A few hours later, Inuyasha comes back into the hut. Everyone looks up to see him with a sack over his shoulder. "Finally." He spoke as he sets the sack onto the floor, leaving a small thud on the ground. "What's in there?" Miroku asks him. Inuyasha stretches his shoulder, hearing few cracks in it. "It's the stuff I have to make the medicine so she can get her voice back." He answers the question as he is about to grab the pot over the fire.

"What do you think ye're doing with that?" Kaede stands back up in annoyance. "What else? I need it to make my medicine." He easily picks it up. "Ye will do no such thing." She tries to stop, but Inuyasha raises it up to get it out of the old priestess's reach. "Inuyasha, quit fooling around. Kimi needs to tell you something." Sango calls out to him. Inuyasha does as he was told. He should be lucky that Kagome isn't here to sit him for his foolishness. "Ok. So, what is it that you want to tell me?" He asks her. All she does is take his hand and disappears. "Ok. Go after them, Shippo." Miroku tells him. Shippo nods and grabs a leaf to make himself disappear and follow the trail where that Kimi unnoticedly left behind.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Revelation

Shippo tracks Kimi down for a about an hour now. 'Man, just where is she going?' He wonders as he keeps on going. But that's when he spots her deep in a forest. To make sure he doesn't get spotted, he turns into a miniature statue to see what Kimi is up to. Once Kimi reappears in front of him, another person comes out of the shadows of the darken forest. "What brings you here, Kimi?" That's when Shippo recognizes the voice. 'Kagura.' He didn't expect this. "I'm through with your master shenanigans." Kimi frowns at her while crossing her tiny arms. That's when Kagura playfully opens her fan. "Now, Kimi. Is that anyway to thank my master for he has done for you and your mother. From the look of things, you're quite a stubborn one when it comes to things that involves your mother's life, even after death." She reminds her as she walks around the child. "Don't forget that I can control her body with my dance of the dead. Not just hers but yours as well." She kneels down to the child's level.

Feeling her close proximity, Kimi trembles in fright. She is beyond scare, but she has to keep that emotion hidden from everyone else. "So Kimi, what was it that my master wanted you to do?" Kagura asks her. "To make Kagome as useless as possible." Kimi murmurs her answer. That's when Wakana appears in front of her. "And if you keep your end of the bargain, I'll make sure your mother stays stable." Kagura comes up to the woman with something. Kimi looks up to see a locket. "How did you get that?" Kimi asks her in shock. "Oh, you mean this?" Kagura dangles the jewelry in her fingers. "I thought it'd be useful to use against you and Kagome." She replies back. "Like what exactly?" Kimi asks her carefully. "Oh, I see now, you don't know what this locket contains. Well I can tell this one thing. It's meant to hold on Kagome's abilities. Her eyesight, her hearing, and most importantly, her voice." Kagura explains to her.

'That thing has Kagome's abilities.' Shippo is shocked to hear that. That's when Wakana and Kagura flew away on her feather. Once the duo fled, Kimi drops to her knees. 'Oh mama.' She weeps. Knowing that his mission is complete, Shippo makes a run for it before Kimi notices his presence.

Back at Kaede's hut, Inuyasha is working on his medicine. But that's when its smell made everyone plug theirs noses. "Really, Inuyasha? Do ye have to do it in here?" Kaede asks him. "Look, this is the only way I can make it. So deal with it or not." Inuyasha replies in annoyance. "I just don't get it how you are able to tolerate that stench." Miroku comments the scene. "Well that's because my mother was the one who came up with the idea to make sure my nose doesn't burn up." Inuyasha begins stirring the ingredients in the pot. "And what was the idea?" Sango asks him this time. She looks down to see Kirara not enjoying the smell as she runs out of the hut.

"This is." Inuyasha holds up a herb in his hand. "What is that? I've never seen that before." Sango asks him. "It's a herb that naturalized my scent of smell. All I have to do is rub it on my nose that the smell doesn't bother me." Inuyasha explains the herb's purpose. "Do you have any more of these? It can help us human." Miroku begs him. "Sorry, but this only work on demons and half demons with strong noses." As such the group groan in disappointment. "So much for you help, Inuyasha. I bet Kagome is going to barf that medicine when she takes it." Miroku sarcastically spoke.

Inuyasha chuckles. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Miroku. Remember when Kagome was down with that cold? I cured her up with this kind of stuff. And she managed to chug it down." He said confidently. After hearing that made Miroku, Sango and Kaede look at each with gross expressions. "Now I know when not to get sick." Sango groans. "So when will this medicine be ready for Kagome?" Inuyasha observes the pot. "More like about 5 minutes at the least." He answers her as he keeps on stirring the contents in the pot.

While the group wait for the pot to finish the medicine, Shippo quickly enters the hut. "Guys you won't believe what I found out." He shouts out, but then quickly plugs in his nose. "What is that smell?" He asks them. "Oh that's Inuyasha's medicine." Sango answers him. "For what?" He asks her. "For Kagome. It's supposed to help her get her voice back." She explains it to him. "Inuyasha, you don't need to make that stuff." Shippo comes up to him. "And you think your idea is better than mine." He mocks the kid. That's when Shippo digs into his vest to pull out the tiny camera that Kaede gave him earlier. "What did you find out?" Miroku asks him. Shippo goes into one of the crates in the hut to pulls a little laptop that Kagome brought back the other time. "Trust me you're going to be surprised." He tells them as he hooks up the little camera and turns on the laptop to show the group.

After watching the footage, the entire group are in complete shock about what Kimi was doing. "So, she was working for Naraku all this time. I knew it." Inuyasha growls at it. "We need to be carefully about Kimi if she were to pop out." Miroku calms him down before Inuyasha loses his temper. "So, then my medicine is pointless at this time." He sighs as he sits back down. "Hey don't be like that. If you want you can just take the medicine with you to Kagome." Sango advises him. Inuyasha doesn't waste another second as he gathers the medicine into a bottle and heads out of the hut. As soon as Inuyasha left, Kimi appears inside the hut. When she turns around, she's being looked at a few pairs of eyes that are full of mixed emotions. Disappointment, and betrayal.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: One Way or Another

Just when Kimi is about to disappear again, Miroku secretly places a sutra onto the wall of the hut. As such, Kimi didn't vanish. "What's going on? Why can't I leave?" Kimi asks in surprise. "Isn't it obvious, Kimi. I had to prevent you from getting away." Miroku responds back at her seriously this time. "But why? I didn't do anything to you guys." Kimi tries her best to make them believe her. "Kimi, we know what you did. There's no denying it." Sango speaks up this time. From the looks of her eyes, Kimi now knows that she is to stay where she is. "Tell us, Kimi. What were you doing with Kagura?" She asks the child.

Kimi blinks her eyes. "Kagura? I never told you what her name was." She tells them so far. "You don't need to. We happen to know her quite well. But can you tell us what you know of her?" Miroku responds back to her. "All I know is that she can manipulate the dead with her wind powers." Kimi murmurs to them. "True. But that's one of her powers." Sango nods to her. "What else can she do?" Kimi asks her curiously. "She is one of the powerful foes we ever met. She can make tornadoes or blades from the fan in her hand. But she's one of Naraku's incarnations." Kimi heard it and she isn't really impressed due to her frown. Kaede comes up to her. Kimi, child. We don't want to push ye into a corner and have ye so scared. All we want is for you to help us to get Kagome's powers back. Is there anything ye can tell us to achieve it?" She asks her gently. "There's one…" Kimi begins.

Inuyasha comes into Kagome's hospital room. He sees her sleeping soundly. He smiles as he sets the bag down onto a tray. He shakes her. "Hey wake up." Kagome flutters her eyes to see Inuyasha looking down to her. "How are you feeling?" He asks her. Kagome looks around for her tablet. Seeing it on the table she gets it on and types something down. "What brings you here?" She shows it to him. Inuyasha opens up the bag to reveal some water bottle with greenish yellow liquid in it. "What else? I've brought you some of my medicine." He replies to her. Kagome types quickly. "I was just joking, Inuyasha. You didn't have to do that." She looks up to him with amusement.

"Like hell whatever medicine you've been told to take wouldn't do much anyway." He comments arrogantly as he hands it over to her. Kagome sniffs for a second and plugs her nose. She types the tablet with her one hand while her other one is plugging her nose. 'As if I'll take that stuff.' She refuses the bottle. "Hey you do know that medicine I made for your cold worked." Inuyasha reminds her that time. Kagome sourly frown, remembering that time she drank that medicine. She asks him what he used to make it, but Sota made his arms into an X to let Inuyasha know that it's best left unsaid. "Fine, fine. I'll take it." She types her confession on the screen. Inuyasha smiles, "Ok. Trust me. It's as effected as the cold medicine." He assures her. Kagome opens up the bottle. She quickly chugs it down.

Inuyasha never saw this coming. He widens his eyes to see Kagome quickly drinking the bottle down. "Whoa. Ok. That's enough." He takes the bottle out of her hand. "Seriously, Kagome. You didn't have to chug it down." He tells her. All Kagome could do is cross her arms and pout. "Anyway. Are you free to head home?" He asks her curious. Kagome can tell how impatient he's getting. "I don't know. Maybe tomorrow if I'm lucky." Kagome types her answer. 'And why do I feel so drowsy? I slept for hours.' Kagome holds her head. "I forgot to mention that medicine is going to make your fatigue after taking so much." Inuyasha said as he gently pushes Kagome down onto her bed by her shoulder. Just before Kagome could do anything else, her eyes shut on their own and she goes back to sleep. 'At least she's not sitting me. Oh man. I don't know if I should be happy or upset of her not being able to say it.' Inuyasha said to himself as he gets the bottle rinsed out in the sink since Kagome drank the entire thing. 'Let's just hope my medicine actually works. After what Shippo told me, I was certain that my plan would be better than his.' He said to himself as he heads out of the room.

"…And that's why I had to do it." Kimi finishes her story. There was no way anyone in the hut heard such a thing. Even for a child was difficult to make it sense. "Well at least Inuyasha isn't here to know about this." Shippo comments after sighing. "You mean Inuyasha isn't here. Where did he go?" Kimi asks the fox kid. "He went back to get Kagome better with the potion he made to help her get her voice back." He answers her. Kimi is scared now. "This isn't good. He should know that his potion won't work." She tells them. Sango and Miroku looked at each other before turning back to her. "He kind of figured that as well. When he found out what you were doing, he was angry that he wasted his time creating a medicine to help Kagome." Miroku explains to Kimi as he comes to Shippo. "But how was it he found out about me? I didn't sense him when I went to see Kagura." Kimi is confused at this point. How could she not notice it sooner? "I'm not really saying it was Inuyasha who found it out. It was Shippo who went after you the last time you came here." Sango tells her.

Kimi widens her eyes as she sees Shippo pulling something out of his vest. "Shippo? Why would you spy on me?" She is about to cry. "I had to do it. From where we were, we couldn't find any clues on how to get Kagome better. The only possible way was to find out what you were doing behind our back." Shippo walks up to her as he shows what he pulled out earlier. What was shown to Kimi made her curious, and yet distraught.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Betrayal?

Kimi is not sure on how to approach this. Just seeing what Shippo is holding the device that she never seen before made her think twice on how to take of this issue. "What is that thing?" Kimi is able to ask him. "This is called a video camera." Shippo answers her. "What does it do?" Kimi asks her next question. "This helps take in pictures into a video." Sango explains the best she could. "We had to do it. You should be lucky Inuyasha isn't here." Sango adds.

But that's when the door opens to reveal Inuyasha. "What do you me she's lucky?" He asks the group as he closes the door behind him. He looks down to see Kimi is a frighten state. "What's going on here?" He sits down. That's when he spotted the item in Shippo's hand. "What is this?" He snatches it out of the fox's hand. "Uh, well…" Shippo is now scared due to Inuyasha's glare aiming at him. He looks around to spot the other device he doesn't recognized before. But then he remembers something Kagome showed him earlier. "Don't." Kimi stops him.

"Well, you see, we had to find out what Kimi is up we had Shippo go after her to see if we could find out about her absence." Miroku answers him carefully, hopefully Inuyasha doesn't lose his temper. "Is that so?" Inuyasha leans down to the child. All Kimi could do is nod nervously. "Just show him." She tells the others. Sango hands over the device and hooks it up to the video camera to it. Inuyasha watches the footage. He growls. "Seriously? You had to do Kagura's biddings?" He asks her. Kimi shakes her head. "No that's not it." She defends herself so far. Inuyasha turns his attention back to the footage. That's when he notices something. "How on. Wait a minute." He managed to pause the footage. "I've seen her before." He tells the group. "You mean you met my mommy?" Kimi asks him curious. "Yeah it was the other time I came back from Kagome's time. And that's not all." He explains.

That's when the group look over his shoulder. "What is it?" Miroku asks him. That's when points something on the screen. "That's my mommy's locket." Kimi tells him. "Yeah, she showed that to me. I just don't know why she would show it off." Inuyasha tells the child. "It contains Kagome's abilities." Shippo said to him. Inuyasha never saw this coming. 'But then I was right all this time.' He looks down to Kimi. "How was it that you came across Kagura?" He asks her gently, not to scare her. Kimi sighs, knowing that she cannot keep her secret any longer.

_Flashback_

_Kimi and Wakana are running for their lives as a demon chase them through the forest. "Mommy, I can't run anymore." Kimi speaks in between breathes. "We're almost there, sweetie." Wakana replies back as she takes her daughter into her arms and keep on running. But that's when a bright blade crashes onto the ground into front of them. "This is as far as you go." The voice speaks to them. The winds blow all over as Kagura lands down in front of them. "Please spare us. We didn't do anything." Wakana begs they. All Kagura does is toy with her fan. "Dance of blades." She waves her fan to create the bright blades. The blades missed them by an inch. _

_Just when Wakana is about to run away, Kanna appears out of nowhere and begins sucking the souls of the mother and child into her mirror. "Nicely done, Kanna. Just like Naraku planned." After sucking the souls of the parent and child, something crossed Kagura's mind. "Hold on, Kanna I have something that can be beneficial for Naraku." She walks up to the white child. "What is it that you have in mind?" Kanna asks her curious behind her void expression._

_Kagome grins, "Look there." She kneels down to the two dead bodies to find something. "Well, well, well. It appears we found a sacred jewel shard." Kagura is about to touch the shard until it shines brightly. "What's going on?" Kanna comes up to Kagura. "It's reacting on it own." A new voice gets their attention. The two look up to see Kikyo approaching them. "If it isn't the dead priestess. I never expected you would come out in the open." Kagura comments in annoyance. "It must've been her spiritual powers that made the jewel shine on us." Kanna explains the reason about the jewel._

_Then a soul collector comes up to them. "What do you plan on doing with that?" Kagura asks her. "I'm giving them a second chance. She didn't deserve to die at such a young age. That's when the soul collector gently places a soul onto the mother and daughter. But only one of them rises up. And it was Kimi. "What happened?" Kimi asks the priestess. She turns around to see her mother dead. "Mommy!" Shakes the body, but the mother doesn't rise. That's when Kanna uses her mirror to give the mother her soul back. "What are you doing?" Kagura asks the albino child. "If Kikyo is using her soul collectors to revive the child, I thought we'd do the same." She explains to the wind sorceress. _

_That's when Kikyo senses something off about the soul of the mother. "We must leave." She grabs the child and runs away from the scene. Once vanished, the jewel shines black of impurity within the soul that returned to the mother's body. "She'll be our pawn." Kanna explains the power. Kagura observes Kanna's abilities to lock away the jewel and the soul into the discarded locket that lied by the body. The soul dissolves and the mother rises up. She opens her eyes but they were brown with red dots in the middle. "What is your request, Kagura?" She asks in monotone. "Your task is to go after a girl who is travelling with a half demon in red. She's wearing a white and green outfit." Kagura also gives the mother a beehive to her. "You are to have the saimyosho to enter the girl to block her abilities." She gives the instructions. "Right away." She leaves the scene._

_Little did they know that Kimi watched the scene unfold. 'Oh mommy. I'll save you. One way of another."_

_End of Flashback_

The group are stunned about Kimi's story. Well for Inuyasha since he wasn't there to hear with the rest of the group. But hearing Kikyo being in the story has given him mixed feeling about it. 'Well at least she helped her out.' That's when Miroku realizes something. "So, if we were to get Kagome's powers back, we would just have to break the locket that contains them." He gives his one idea. "No." Kimi disagrees with him. "And why is that, Kimi?" Miroku asks her. "That locket has been in my family for generations. It's no ordinary locket." She tells him. So everyone else has to think of something else to get Kagome's powers back without destroying the locket.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: What Should I Do?

When Kimi disagrees with Miroku's idea, Inuyasha just stood up and leave the hut. "Was is something I said?" Kimi asks the adults. No one could really reply back to her. They know not to say anything about Kikyo. It puts too much pressure on him. "You see Kimi, the thing is that…that woman who saved you was someone special to Inuyasha. It's best you don't say anything about her to him." Sango tries her hardest to console the child. "Oh I'm sorry. I had no idea she was important to him. But if it weren't her, I wouldn't be here." Kimi points out to them. And they know that she's right.

Inuyasha walks through the forest. That being said, he's thinking about Kikyo. Then a soul collector comes up to him. Knowing that they can't speak, all they can do is guide him to its mistress. "Fine. Take me to her." He tells the soul collector as it leads the way. It doesn't take long for him to come to a clearing where Kikyo is resting on a tree root. From her express is calm, yet stoic. "Inuyasha, I see you have come." She spoke softly to him as she doesn't face him. "I came here to ask you something." Inuyasha walks up to her. "Let me guess, it has to do with the child." Kikyo opens her browns eyes to look at him. "Yes. Kimi came to us a few days ago. According to her, you were able to revive her." Inuyasha explains to the dead priestess. Kikyo stands up from her spot. "Yes, I revived her. But I only had one soul with me at the time." She honestly tells him.

"So you were kind of doing a good deed for the child." Inuyasha assumes to her seriously this time. Kikyo chuckle. "A good deed? Hardly. I done something like this before." She smiles at him. From the look of things, Inuyasha is getting quite anxious about what Kikyo might be planning. "So then why did you do it?" He asks her this time, demanding. "I simply wanted to help her find peace with her mother. But from what the child might've told you was true, her mother was being control by Kagura." Kikyo explains the situation to him.

"Okay. Have you come across the mother lately?" He asks her after what he heard. "No, I haven't crossed paths with her. Have you?" She asks him this time. "I have, and from the looks of things, she wasn't herself. She smelled like death." Inuyasha answers to her. "I see. Was there anything else to know about the mother?" Kikyo asks a bit more intrigued on the topic. "When I saw here, she had this locket with her. Somehow that locket was possessing something." Inuyasha thinks back to the point where he encounters the woman. "Interesting. Do you have any idea what the locket might contain inside?" Inuyasha hesitated for second. From what he was told earlier gave him a hunch. But is he willing to tell Kikyo about? Probably. "I think it's holding Kagome's abilities in it." Inuyasha tells her cautiously, hoping he did the right thing. "Oh, I had no idea. I think I might be at fault here." Kikyo confesses to him. Inuyasha raised his eyebrow. "How are you at fault? You didn't do anything to hurt me or my friends."

That's when Kikyo talks, "It happened after I revived Kimi…"

_Flashback_

_That's when Kikyo senses something off about the soul of the mother. "We must leave." She grabs the child and runs away from the scene. "Mommy! We have to save my mommy!" Kimi cries out to the priestess. "We well, you have nothing to worry about." Kikyo assures the child until they make it to a place where they can take a break. "What happened to my mommy?" Kimi asks her._

_Kikyo turns to one side. "I revived you with one my souls. Your mother's soul was corrupted." She answers the child. "So, she's alive?" Kimi hopes to the priestess. "No, not really alive like you. I only had one soul with me at the time I arrived." Kikyo shakes her head. Kimi's tears fill up her eyes. "So, she's gone forever?" She looks up to the older woman. "I didn't say anything about her being dead." That's when Kikyo places her hand onto the child's shoulder, "If I had two souls with me, I'd be more than willing to revive the both of you. But the white girl who sucked your mother's soul made it go bad, and obey their orders." Kikyo to Kimi, trying her best to cheer her up, and not lose hope. _

"_Ok, so then what should do about it?" Kimi asks while wiping her tears away. Kikyo stood up, "From the look of things, there's not much that I can do from here on out. But I know a group who are more than willing to help you out." Kikyo tells the girls as they walk through the forest. "Who is this group?" Kimi asks her curiously. "The group I'm speaking of are few acquaintances of mine. I'm in no position to travel with them. I'm a solo traveler." Kikyo answers the girl. "I sense they're coming this way. The group is easy to spot. One person is wearing red. He has long silver hair and triangular ears on top of his head. The next person looks like me but her outfit is unlike anything I seen before. She wears a green and white outfit. There's a fox demon, a female demon slayer, a two-tailed feline demon and a monk." She gives the details to Kimi as they come to a hill that leads to a village. "You should meet them here. Just don't tell them who I am." Kikyo tells her serious this time. Kimi nods and does as she was told._

_End of Flashback_

Inuyasha never saw this coming. "Okay. It turns out that you were just trying your best to help the child without being involved in it." He gets it now. All this time. He should've seen this coming. "But little did I know that I did more harm than good." Kikyo comments sadly to him. "Like what? From what I can tell you so far is that locket that Kimi's mother has Kagome's powers. And we have to get those back." He explains the problem. "Yes, you told me. I assure you, Inuyasha. I want to do whatever I can to help get Kagome her powers back." Inuyasha crossed his arms, "But tell me this, Kikyo. Do you know what powers Kagome lost in the process?" He asks her seriously. Kikyo looks up to him in the eye, "Her ability to sense the jewel shards." She answers him calmly. "Not just that, Kikyo. There were saimyosho who inflicted her hearing, and her voice. Luckily her eyesight was not affected."

Kikyo didn't see that coming. "You're saying she can't speak nor hear anything?" Inuyasha nods his answer. "So far she is able to again after the saimyosho was removed from her ear. But now we're having hard time getting her voice back." He tells her. Kikyo sighs, "I see. Without her telling you where the shard is, it proves that your task to recover the shards has become rather difficult for your group." She confirms it to him. "Yeah. From what Kagome could do is write stuff down to us since she can't talk to any of us. The good news is that the doctor managed to remove the bug out of her throat, but she is to remain where she is, because if she tries to talk, her voice box could be damaged even more." Inuyasha explains to her so far. "Do you know how much longer it'll take for her to speak again?" Kikyo asks him. "From what I could get, Kagome wrote to me that it'll take her about a few days. She wasn't accurate about the time." Inuyasha answers to her.

"I'll keep a close eye on the mother to see if I can purify her soul." Kikyo gives her one idea. "No." Inuyasha quickly declines. "I know how much you want to help Kimi out, but from what happened ever since she came into the picture, Kagome had to suffer from losing her hearing and her voice. There's no way I'll have lose her sight. You're the only one left among us who has that power and I'm not going to risk it." Inuyasha reasons to her adamantly. Kikyo can tell how serious that this has come out of hand. "Ok. I'll stay away from the fray. Just do whatever you can to help get Kagome her powers back." She begs him calmly. "I will. You have my word." As such he leaves the area.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Confliction

Back at the hospital, Ai Higurashi is gathering anything of her daughter's. The toilet flushes tell the mother that Kagome is in the bathroom. "Kagome, are you ready to go?" She asks from the outside of the closed. The door opens to reveal Kagome in her usual outfit of a tank top and jean shorts with sandals on. She nods to give her answer. "Ok. Let's go home. I'll be making your favorite dish tonight." The mother smiles as they leave the building. 'I wonder what Inuyasha is doing? He's been gone for most of the night.' Kagome said in her head. No way she's going to risk. 'What if Inuyasha's medicine didn't work? Will I remain a mute forever?' She begins to worry.

Ai spots Kagome shaking for some reason. "There's nothing to worry about." She comforts back taking her daughter's shoulder. Kagome nods back to her. 'I hope so.' As they walk up the stairs of the shrine, something pulsates within her. When they get to the top of the staircase, Kagome drops to her knees. "Kagome?" Ai gets down to her level. "What's the matter, dear?" She is worried for sure. And not being able to hear what Kagome could tell her is much harder. 'I don't know. It'd be something just went into me.' Kagome can only tell herself.

Ai helps her daughter up and safely take her into the house. "Oh, Kagome. You're home." Grandpa Higurashi smiles to see Kagome back home. All Kagome can do is smile at him. "She's not to talk for a while, father. She'll still use the tablet to communicate with us though." Ai explains the situation to him. Even if it's true, grandpa lost the smile. Kagome spots the express. She hugs him to show how much he means to her. All grandpa could do is to return the hug. Just seeing that made Ai smiles at the two.

Kagome makes it up to her bedroom. 'Maybe a nice bath will help me out.' She smiles as she grabs her robe and goes into the bathroom. No later after a few seconds, Kagome's bedroom opens up and Inuyasha hops inside. "Where is she?" He asks as he looks around the room. The sound of water running has the answer. "Oh. Ok." He walks down to the kitchen to see if Mrs. Higurashi is home. He smells the kitchen being used with the stove on. "Oh, Inuyasha. Welcome." She smiles to him. "Hey. How's Kagome?" Inuyasha greets back to her as he sits at the table. "She's doing fine. She's home. I bet you head the water running upstairs when you came in." Ai said to him as she gives him something to drink. "Oh. Is she able to speak yet?" He asks her curious. "Not right now. Her throat is sore so speaking is not recommended." Ai responds back to him. 'I hope you're wrong. What I gave her earlier was meant to help get her voice back.' Inuyasha tells himself in his mind. "Do you want to know why Kagome likes taking baths?" Ai asks him.

Hearing that made Inuyasha blush big time. "Uh, no. Usually to clean ourselves." He honestly replies to her. Ai smiles. "Normally yes. But Kagome does to think things through. Especially when she's stressed out." Ai explains to him. "Stressed?" Inuyasha is surprised at that part. Ai nods back with a sad smile, "Yes. She's stressed because of her schoolwork she's behind and your journey to retrieve the shards. Having a double life can be stressful for a teenager. As a mother, it's my responsibility to make sure she's taken care of on both parts." She explains to him.

The squeaking faucet gets him immediate attention. Inuyasha is about to get up but Ai raised her hand. "Leave her be for a while. She's been through a lot apparently. Be patient. She'll come down when she feels ready." Ai recommends him. Knowing what his own mother told him a long time ago, Inuyasha nods and sits back down. 'There's something I just have to tell her privately.' He wanted so bad to tell her what he found out.

Kagome gets back into her bedroom. Her hair is wrapped in a towel, she changes into a more comfortable article of clothing. From a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt is more than enough for her to get cleaned up. She turns to her desk to resume wherever she left off before going to the hospital. It didn't take long for Inuyasha slip into her room without her knowing it. Kagome's eyes begin to droop, showing that's is about to fall asleep. Just before she is about to fall asleep on the desk, Inuyasha carries her to her bed. "Hey, you okay?" He asks her quietly. Kagome looks up to him, shaking her head. "Need anything?" He asks her. Kagome points to the desk. Inuyasha turns around to spot the tablet he saw her use. He grabs it and hands it to her.

Kagome begins typing something down. "No, I'm so tired. Did your medicine make me drowsy?" She shows the message. Inuyasha sits on the bed's side. "Yeah. Rest is the main key to get your voice back." He explains to her. All Kagome could do is pout, which made Inuyasha chuckle. "I found something else." He speaks to her quietly. Kagome turns her attention back to him. "I found Kikyo close by the village." He said carefully. Knowing this can be very uncomfortable. Neither of them wants to tell each what they think how Kikyo is to the both of them. Kagome types down. "What did you find out?" Inuyasha sighs, "She's the only who revived Kimi with a soul she had with her at the time…"

From time to time, Kagome begins to understand how this is affecting her. 'I see. It all makes sense. After all this time.' Kagome is now either, relieved, or something else that she can't even tell herself. She typed something, "So then Kikyo was just trying help us out. Has she found anything else?" She asks him curiously. Inuyasha blinks his eyes, "Well, because of your condition, Kikyo offered to keep an eye on the mother. But I didn't allow it." Kagome didn't see this coming. "Ok." She has nothing else to ask him at this point.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27. A Helping Spell

The next morning, Kagome feels ready to return back to the feudal era. She has dressed back in her school uniform, with her big yellow backpack with what they need for their upcoming journey. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Ai comes up to Kagome when they opened the wellhouse doors. All Kagome does is nod. Ai is reluctant about letting Kagome go back. Inuyasha walks up to her. "You have my word. I'll keep her safe no matter what happens to us." He assures her gently to her. All Ai can do is nod back, holding her tears back so she wouldn't show how much this is affecting her. Kagome hugs her tightly. "Be safe, dear." Ai hugs her back. Kagome pulls back as she and Inuyasha jump into the well to go back 500 years back into the past.

Inuyasha leaps out of the well with Kagome on his back. When they landed, they felt something unsettling. As such, Kagome hides behind in Inuyasha. Feeling Kagome behind him made him keep his senses on high alert. That's when a soul collector comes out of the forest surrounding the well. Kagome is downright scared. There's no telling what Kikyo might be up to. Then another soul collector comes out after the first one. "What do they want?" Inuyasha asks Kagome. All Kagome could do is shrug her shoulders. Inuyasha gets her onto his back and follow the two soul collectors. It doesn't take long them to see Kikyo gently absorbing a dead soul into her clay body. "Inuyasha, Kagome." She speaks to them as she sees them coming in sight.

Kagome slides down off Inuyasha's back slowly. "Kagome, could you please come here." Kikyo asks her nicely. 'Ok, something doesn't look right about this.' Kagome is tense about all of this. She goes up to Kikyo like she told her to. When Kagome is in arm's length to the priestess, Kikyo position her hands. Soon enough Kagome pulsates. "Kikyo what are you doing?" Inuyasha asks her franticly. Kagome lands down to her knees and hands, holding her throat with one of her hands.

"I'm gaining Kagome's throat so that I can purify what that saimyosho did to it." Kikyo explains her work. Inuyasha gets down to Kagome's side. "Is this permanent?" Inuyasha asks Kikyo worriedly. "I can only make it work for the next two days. Until then, you two need to find the mother, get her locket because Kagome's voice is in it. What I can do at this point is to heal her voice box so it can be easier for her to help you and your friends." Kikyo explains her purpose to him.

Kagome coughs a few times, at least she's not coughing anything else. "Kagome, you okay?" Inuyasha asks her. Kagome massages her throat, "I think so." Her voice was barely audible, but Inuyasha heard her. "I just wanted to talk so badly, I forgot how it's done." She looks up to him. Inuyasha sighs, relieved for now. Kikyo comes up to them. Kagome looks up to her. "Kagome, I should've told you about this spell I was able to perform on you." She smiles a little. Kagome smiles back, "As long I can speak until the tasks is finish, I can thank you for your assistance." She replies back to her in respect. Kikyo smiles back and then is being picked up to her to the sky to take her somewhere else.

When Kikyo vanished in the distance, Inuyasha isn't too thrilled about what just happened. "We should head back to Kaede's." Kagome's suggestion gets him out of his thoughts. "Yeah." He agrees as they head towards the village. As soon as they reach the outskirts of the village turns around to face Kagome. "Inuyasha? You okay?" Kagome asks him. Inuyasha shakes his head. "No, Kagome that wasn't what I was expecting." He honestly replies to her. "And why is that, Inuyasha. For all I know from those back then it was just you and her. I had no idea that Kikyo wanted me to coming along this time." Kagome crossed her arms.

"Normally, that's true what you said. Back then Kikyo just wanted to be out of the battlefield as much as possible due to the bandit's heart that is within Naraku's body forbids him to kill her." Inuyasha speaks back, "And whenever she finds out something useful in our favor, she would only tell you." Kagome leans towards with a stink eye. "Hey, she doesn't want to be notice ok. It's the least I could do at this point. For now, you should just use the spell she placed on you so we can recover your voice completely. We're running out of time." He retorts to her as they reach Kaede's hut.

As soon as Kagome enters the hut, Kimi appears in front of her. "Kagome, are you able to talk again?" She asks her. Kagome smiles as she sits down. "For the next two days, Kimi. Which means we have to think of a way to save your mother, and get my voice back." She responds to the child. Little did she know that throughout her talking, the rest of the group are surprised to hear her voice again. "What?" Kagome asks them.

"Uh, well…" Sango tries to think of something to say to her. "The thing is…" Neither could Miroku say something. It just came out of the blue. "We just didn't expect that you would be able to talk again Kagome." Shippo tells her. Kagome sighs as she shakes her head. "Really guys, I know how me not being able to talk was really frustrating throughout the time, but I can only talk for tow more days." She tells them as she has Shippo on her lap. Everyone else widen their eyes, "For only two days, Kagome? Why that short period amount of time?" Kimi comes around her. Right before Kagome could answer her, "It's because Kikyo could only restore her voice for us." Inuyasha answers the question. Kimi widens her eyes, "You know her?" She asks them.

There were a few who felt that this wasn't a good time to talk about Kikyo, let alone Inuyasha being around. "Yeah, she helped us." Kagome spoke softly this time, not to make it any awkward to him.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28: No More Fooling Around

After what Kagome told them about what happened, Inuyasha was so uncomfortable that he just left the hut. Later that evening, Kagome gathers her bath products, "Heading off to the hot springs?" Sango asks her as she is polishing her weapon. "Yeah, care to join me?" Kagome smiles at her. Sango smiles back as she and Kirara follow Kagome out of the hut. Kimi tilts her head. "Where are they going?" She asks Kaede. "They're going to the hot springs, child." She answers the child's question before sipping her tea. "What about the guys? Do they go to the hot springs?" She looks outside. "Nay, they're not much of those kinds of people." Kaede replies back to her. Kimi disappears, something crossed her mind to check things out.

The girls sink into the hot spring waters, "Aahhh." Kagome exhales slowly. Sango doesn't though. "You seem to be to your old self, Kagome." She comments after hearing Kagome speaking again. Kagome smiles sadly, "Yeah, but it's not completely back though." She rests her back against a stone. "As in the spell Kikyo casted on you?" Sango assumes to her. Kagome just nods. When it comes to a topic that involves Kikyo, Kagome nor Inuyasha would say anything about her. They want to respect her wishes, even if it means that it hurts Kagome's feeling at a personal level.

"To be honest with you, Kagome. I'm just unsure about what Kikyo did. I don't know if it's what she gave you or what she did to you." Sango speaks to her worriedly. Kagome hasn't gotten into much thought. "I don't know. I don't know what to say about it." Kagome replies as she sinks a bit deeper. Sango comes up to her, "All I'm saying is that Kikyo is more like a neutral being. And maybe she's tipping the advantages in our favor." She tries to cheer her up. But that's when Kagome came up from the water. "Leaving so soon?" Sango is confused now. Kagome puts on her bathrobe and gathers her bath products. "I just lost interest." Kagome spoke sourly this time. As such she leaves the springs. Kirara hops to the ledge of the hot springs meow at Sango. "Kirara, go after her. You know she doesn't get into trouble." She tells her feline as she wraps herself into her village kimono. Kirara meows back and heads of ahead.

Kagome walks back into Kaede's hut. "Why are you back all of a sudden, Kagome?" Kaede is a bit surprised to see her return at such a short time. "I just didn't feel like it. That's all." Kagome replies back as she changes into her pajamas and goes to bed. Kirara comes in and goes in front of Kaede. "What is it?" She asks quietly. Kirara turns her head towards Kagome. Kaede blinks her one eye. 'Something's not right.' She confirms it. Sango comes in a few seconds later. She is about to say something but Kaede stops her. "Not now." She whispers to the demon slayer.

Somewhere else in the village, Inuyasha is lodging in his tree while Miroku is meditating on the base of the tree. "Inuyasha, Miroku." Kimi popped out of nowhere. "Oh, it's you." Miroku responds calmly. "What brings you here?" He asks her. "Something's not right with Kagome." She waves her hands freakily. Inuyasha jumps down. "Like what?" He asks the child. "All Sango asks Kagome is what Kikyo did if is what she gave her or what she did to her. As such Kagome stormed out of the springs." Kimi explains to the guys.

Miroku groans, "How unsensitive. Sango is not one to brag, let alone be the one to hurt someone's feelings. That's not her at all." Miroku picks up his staff and is about to head down to the hut, until Inuyasha runs on ahead. He goes in to see Sango and Kaede sitting around Kagome's body, "Sango, what were you thinking? You have no right to question Kagome about my relationship with Kikyo?" Sango turns around to show that she's confused. "Me questioning? All I say how did it felt for Kagome that she had her voice back for a while." She crossed her arms. Inuyasha growls, "Now you listen here, Sango. When it comes to relationships, it's best you stay out of it unless either me or Kagome talks about it openly." He kneels down to her level, eye to eye.

Inuyasha stands back up, "Sit!" Kagome shouts in her sleep. Inuyasha's beads glow and slam his straight to the ground. "Serves him right." Sango hmphs at him with a grin. But then Kagome is sitting up, with her eyes closed. She is about to sleepwalk out of the hut. "Oh no." Miroku slaps a sutra onto the wall of the hut. "It turns out that Kagome is being possessed by someone." Miroku tells the crew. Inuyasha sniffs the girl carefully. "No doubt about it." He narrows his golden eyes. "What? What is it, Inuyasha?" Kaede asks the hanyou. Inuyasha walks around Kagome's body to see if there's something odd coming from her. And he does. "Well, well, well. Looks like we have a little trouble maker." He smirks as he yanks what appears to Shippo's tail. "Ow, ow, ow. Hey let me go, Inuyasha." Shippo is begging hard. Soon enough, Kagome's body transforms back into Shippo. "Shippo? How is it that you were able to turn into Kagome?" Kimi asks the kit as Inuyasha drops him to the floor.

"It was my idea." Kagome spook up. "Where are you, Kagome?" Sango asks around the hut. Inuyasha looks down to the wooden floor to see a hinge and grins, "She's under here." He lifts up what appears to a trap door. "Whoa. I never seen this before." Miroku speaks in awe. "That's because I built it." Shippo proudly tells him. He lifts the door and out comes Kagome. "Whoa, I had no idea you'd pull up a something like that." Sango comments the structure. "What came up with this idea, Kagome?" She asks Kagome wipes off the dirt from her face.

"I'd thought it'd be funny to mess with Inuyasha since I had my voice back for the time being." Kagome explains to them. "I noticed that Shippo has mastered his disguise techniques so I thought I led him my stuff so that Inuyasha would tell it was me the entire time." Sango comes up to the spot where Shippo was sleeping in Kagome's form. "Oh, these mushrooms were meant to keep his scent unnoticed." She said as she spots the screaming mushrooms he placed earlier. "So those mushrooms were meant to make her gloomy?" Kirara sniffs and backs away. Kagome stretches her body since she had to be a in cannonball position under the wooden floor.

"Nice one." Inuyasha sarcastically said before heading out of the hut. Kagome blinks her eyes, "All I did was play a prank on him." She looks at the group. But from the way they look at her with disappointment, she now feels ashamed. "Please excuse me." She leaves the hut. "Why did you do that?" Shippo asks the adults. "Well, Shippo there are those times that when someone is not in the mood for anything, anything like what Kagome did kind of made it worse. As far as we know, we had to pretend that we weren't thrilled about it. It's meant to get those two to make up." Miroku explains the scenario. "Not just that, after what happened for the last few days, Inuyasha was on edge on how to get Kagome back to her normal self. We should be grateful that she has her voice back for the time being." Sango adds that as well.

"Wait a minute." Kaede gets their attention. "How was it that Kagome got her voice back? From what Inuyasha said earlier that Kikyo managed to get Kagome's voice. Is that right?" Sango and Miroku looked at each other. "Yeah." The spoke at the same time. "I hate to say this, but Kikyo cannot perform such a spell." Kaede tells them seriously this time. "Hold on. We know that Kagome's throat had a small saimyosho was in her vocal chords. As far as I know, Kikyo was only able to purify the saimyosho. Not destroy it." Miroku explains to the old priestess.

Inuyasha hops onto the highest branch of his tree. 'The nerve of that woman.' He growls in his head. No one messes with him, especially a prank and gets away with it. "Inuyasha?" Kagome calls from the ground of the tree. She looks up to see him still angry for what she did to him earlier. "Let me guess, you're going to do the ignoring treatment." She said before she walks away. For she knows how to get him to go after her. For it's one way, and one way only. Heading to the well.

Kagome makes it through the forest with the Sacred Tree. She looks up to see the clearing where the bone eater's well. 'Hmm, I wonder how long it takes him to admit defeat?' She asks herself. Just when is about to jump in. "Don't move." A voice halts her. Kagome looks around to find where that voice came from. "Who's there?" She shouts out to the surrounding area. That's when a fierce gust of wind forces Kagome down to the ground. 'If only I have my bow and arrows.' She tells herself in shame. Without them, she's defenseless. "I have to admit." The voice spoke. Kagome looks up to see someone in a hood. "I would never expect to find the owner of the voice I have taken from you." It spoke to her. "And now, you will never have it back." And then Kagome is knocked out cold.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: The Real Culprit

Inuyasha gets over his sulking and hops off the tree he perched on. He sniffs the air to track down Kagome. "Heh, typical." He comments the common times that Kagome does whenever she wants to go home to her time. He arrives at the clearing where the well resides. Just before he jumps in, he picks up another scent he recently discovered. "Oh no, it's that dead woman's scent." He looks around the area, trying to pin point where it came from. "Long time no see, Inuyasha." A voice gets his immediate attention. Inuyasha turns where the voice is coming from.

"Kikyo? Me and Kagome met you today." He tells her. The dead priestess is confused by his words. "Today? I haven't seen you for about a month." She replies back to him. Inuyasha blinks his golden eyes trying to think back the last time he saw her. "Inuyasha, how could you tell it was me who met you and Kagome today? I was somewhere at the time." She explains to him.

"When Kagome and I hopped out of the well earlier, you came over to see how Kagome was doing? When you heard that Kagome lost her voice, you casted a spell to make sure she could speak for the next two days until it faded away." He tells her what he and Kagome went through when they returned. "Inuyasha, how could you be such a fool? I have no capabilities to restore someone's voice." Kikyo chuckles how pathetic he became.

"But there were soul collectors with you at the time. It made me convinced that it was you that time." Inuyasha spoke back, feeling offended by this. "Inuyasha, I'm telling the truth here. I'm guessing that someone else must've been imposing me." Kikyo proclaims to him seriously this time, proving her point across. Inuyasha sighs, "How dumb can I really be sometimes." He admits that rather quickly. "Whoever imposed as me must've been someone who might know the both of us quite well." She tells him wisely, which is uncommon. "Do you have any idea who might be the one who did this?" She asks him.

Inuyasha thinks back. From what he can tell was that there was Kimi, but she couldn't pull a stunt like that, even if she's a spirit. There's no way she can turn into Kikyo. Then there's the other dead person, Wakana. Kimi's mother. From what Kimi told him was that Kikyo only had one soul with her at the time to revive her, but not her mother. Wakana's soul was trapped in Kanna's mirror, and manipulated to do Kanna's bidding. More like… "It's Kimi's mother. She must've imposing as you when Kagome and I returned." He speaks out "And you claimed that it was me who casted that spell, but in truth…" Kikyo reminded him until the final part.

"She must've cast that spell as something else. Into believing that Kagome got her voice back, but it was something else entirely." Inuyasha figured it out all of a sudden. "Kikyo, you need to hide from Naraku. There's no way I'm going to lose you second time, even if it's for someone else's life." He takes hold of her shoulders as he embraces her to show her that he deeply cares for her. Kikyo nods back as she returns the embrace. "Just make sure Kagome is back safe and sound." She pleas to him. Inuyasha pulls back and runs back to Kaede's village to tell them what he found out.

Kagome comes to find her in a dungeon cage. As she tried to move, she feels that her hands and feet are chained up to the wall. She tries to speak but nothing came out. 'Why can't I talk?' She asks herself. "You're finally awake." A voice speaks out from somewhere. From the looks of Kagome's surrounding, she only sees darkness, no candle to light up the inside, nor a window. There's no telling if it's day time or night time. Kagome turns her sight to the sound. That's when a torch is lit up revealing a hooded person. "I know what you're trying to say. 'It's you.'." She said to her as she comes up closer to Kagome. She then snaps her fingers. A pulse went through Kagome's throat. As such Kagome is coughing for whatever that was that made her throat hurt. "Now tell me something." She serious said to Kagome. "Tell you what?" Kagome is surprised that she can speak. "Tell me how is my daughter, Kimi is doing?" She asks in a more softer tone.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her in awhile." Kagome murmurs her responds back to the woman. The woman sighs, "I see, well I'm sure she's in safe hands with those people she's been with. And I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier." She confesses to her. That's when Kagome thinks back for whatever she did. But nothing is coming back to her. "I was the one who disguised as that priestess that you know." She gives Kagome the hint in a nonchalant tone.

"It was you who imposed as Kikyo." Kagome begins to put the pieces together. "As well casting the spell to get my voice working for the next two days." That's when the woman pulls her hood down to reveal herself in from of her. It's no mistake that Kimi has the similarities from her mother. "That was only a ruse. I only make you believed that your voice was healed in the meantime." The woman said to her. "Ok, then you have a name, right? You know it's rude not to introduce yourself to someone you meet." Kagome lectures the woman.

The woman chuckles, "Ah, you're right. Where are my manners. I'm Wakana. Kimi's mother." Kagome blinks her eyes. "Oh. Ok. So, you're one of the dead. But something about you doesn't look right." Kagome comments to her gently. "Yes, you see. My daughter was saved by Kikyo, for she only had one soul with her at the time. As for me. My soul was sucked into a little white girl's mirror." She tells her story. "It must've been Kanna's mirror. Whenever she has someone's soul in her mirror, Kagura manipulates the body like a puppet." Kagome explains the two's powers.

That's when Wakana's body pulsates. "Come, Wakana." Kagura orders the person. Wakana nods as she puts her hood back up and leaves the room with the torch. Just Kagome is about to say something, A pulse went through her bother again. Kagome tries to say something. "Oh, how sad you can't speak." Kagura's voice comes down to the room. Not just that, Kanna is right behind her. And for what Kagome could only say to herself. 'Not good.'


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: The Right Thing to Do

"It's pathetic as well." Kagura comes up to her. "Even if you try to say something, your throat will hurt even more." Kagome looks down in defeat. "Kanna, come here." Kagura tells her so called 'sister' to come up towards Kagome. 'What do she have plan to do to me?' Kagome asks herself in her head. "Let's get that soul out of you." Kanna spoke with no emotion in her voice, which is creepy. As such her mirror begins to glow as Kagome's soul is being sucked out of her body.

Kagura quietly observes the process. The last time Kanna tried to suck Kagome's soul, it turned out that Kagome's was way too much to fill into the mirror. As every second passes, the more of Kagome's soul is being absorbed. 'Come on, Kagome.' Kagome tries to tell herself over and over on what she could do to prevent her soul to be sucked out even more. Once she got the idea, Kagome concentrates the last of her power. Her power begins to glow in a light pink and then shines all around herself as well as the room.

With such magnitude, Kagura and Kanna didn't have time to defend themselves as Kanna's mirror beings to spill out Kagome's soul. "Hmm, looks likes you still have some fight in you." A new yet familiar voice speaks out to the room. Feeling drained from what she did, Kagome's vision blurs out to see who it was that spoke. Naraku.

Inuyasha is back in Kaede's hut. "What do you mean my mommy did this?" Kimi asks the hanyou as the rest of the group prepare for their departure. "I was able to smell your mother's scent when I arrived at the well. One minute is there and the next, gone." Inuyasha explains to the child. Kimi looks down in disbelief. Never in her life would her mom do such a thing. But then again, ever since she was revived by Kanna's power, she was corrupted.

"I assure you, Kimi. Not only are we going to save your mother, but also Kagome." Sango kneels down to the child. "In the meantime. You and Shippo are to remain here." Miroku comes out of the hut. Not just that, he shoved the two kids inside before closing the door. As such, the constant banging is noisy. "Let us out." Shippo tries to break the wooden walls. But not a single one is damaged. "Sorry, Shippo. I made sure that this hut was covered in sutras. It's meant to keep you two inside, as well as the outside." Miroku shouts to them as he gets onto Kirara's back. "This isn't funny, Miroku." Shippo growls. "It's for your own good." Miroku shouts back before the adults leave the scene.

"Not bad for what you could do, you two." Naraku walks up to them. He looks to see Kagome unconscious, with her bangs covering her closed eyes. "Even if she does wakes up, she'll be a mute for the rest of her life." He grins at the scene. "And as for you, Wakana." Wakana walks to him obeyed. "I have to admit that your pendant is quite efficient. With Kagome's voice locked in there, she won't be able to help Inuyasha or her friends where the sacred jewel shards are. We're at huge advantage." Naraku speaks sinisterly to the trio before leaving the room.

Kanna, Kagura, and Wakana all leave the room as well after Naraku. Wakana grasps her pendant. 'This is not me at all. She concentrates her own power to open up the piece of jewelry a little bit to release Kagome's voice and have it return to her throat. Afterwards she leaves the room. 'I will not obey him again." Wakana tells herself as she leaves the room quickly.

"Do you know where Wakana took Kagome?" Miroku asks Inuyasha. "Isn't it obvious? Naraku's castle." Inuyasha replies as well being irritated. "We don't have the slightest clue on where that castle is. It could anywhere." Sango said to him as well. "Not to mention, ever since the Mt. Hakurei incident, he never stayed in a location for long." She states to him.

All Inuyasha could do is growl in frustration. Sango and Miroku are right. There are no scents on where Naraku is. As far as they know, in the past, all the places they thought that it was his castle, it was an illusion all along until the Tetsusaiga gained the ability to break the barrier that protected the place from the naked eye. But now, they couldn't find any castle that Naraku lives. The last one Inuyasha got into, he was at the moment where he could kill him off for good until Naraku managed to vanished and relocate somewhere else.

He sniffs around the area. "Did you pick up anything?" Sango asks as Kirara lands down by him. "It's hard to say." He answers before continuing on. Kirara does the same thing to help him out. A bug bite hits his neck. With quick reflexes, Inuyasha smashes whoever it was that was biting him. "Ah tasty blood as ever, Master Inuyasha." Inuyasha narrows. "My blood isn't for you to feast on. We're on a rescue mission here, Myoga." Myoga pops back up. "Seriously? It's Shippo I take it." He looks out to the area. "Wrong. Kagome's been kidnapped." Inuyasha corrects him. That's when Myoga shakes his head in disappointment.

"Seriously, Milord. You always let her get kidnapped when you least expect it." Myoga lectures. That's when Inuyasha squeezes him with his clawed fingers. "Not funny. And for your information, Kagome has been kidnapped whenever there's a perverted dude is in the area." Inuyasha twitches his one golden eyes to show how annoyed he is. "My apologies, Milord." Myoga begs to be released. "Really, Myoga you need to keep your mouth shut about my business and provide us with the information we need to save Kagome." Miroku glares at the flea. "That's why I'm here." Myoga turns to the monk. "And what is it that you know that we don't?" Sango asks him.

"I happen to know a bit more of the hooded woman who was wandering around the area. "Wakana." Inuyasha tells him the name of the woman. "Anyway, Wakana is doing everything she can to make sure her daughter is safe from harm, even after death." Myoga gives out what he found out so far. "We already know that much." Inuyasha tells him impatiently. Myoga sighs, "Unfortunately, Naraku has her under Kagura and Kanna's orders." Everyone else rolled their eyes, "We figured it out already." Miroku glares even more to him. At this rate, Myoga is at a dead end on how to provide the right information the group needs to know before it's too late.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Hopeful Chance

As Inuyasha make camp so that Sango and Miroku could rest up, he still can't get a rift of Kagome's scent. Nor could he pick of Wakana's scent. As the night settles in, Miroku strokes the fire while Sango and Kirara bring a few fish to cook over the fire. "I wonder what Shippo and Kimi are doing?" Sango asks to someone who would answer her question. "I believe they're doing just fine." Miroku assures her as she sticks the fish to place over the fire. "And I'm sure Kaede is making sure they stay put. We don't want them to come along with us. This is too much for children to endure." Inuyasha adds to that.

"Achoo!" Shippo sneezes. "You okay?" Kimi asks him. "Maybe getting the cold." Shippo rubs his little nose. "Either that, or maybe someone is talking about me behind my back." He explains the phrase. Kimi sighs, "This is boring. And we're missing out the fun." She said in frustration in her voice. "I know. How could Inuyasha be such a jerk?" Shippo agrees with her. "He's doing it for your own safety." Kaede replies back to the kids as she strokes the fire in the hut. "But still, Kaede. We're worried about Kagome. There's no telling what those people are doing to her. Let alone my mommy." Kimi tries to reason with the elder priestess. "I know how much Kagome means to you two. But when I was your age, my older sister Kikyo had to do what was best for me to stay out of harm's way. As such I respect her advice. And I'm going to use that same thing for your own safety." She said seriously this time to get her point across. Shippo and Kimi looked at each before turning back to the priestess. "It's like the phrase, 'We're doing this for your own good.' Despite how much you want to prove them wrong." Kaede softly speaks afterwards. Knowing that Kaede is right, the children didn't spoke another word.

As the adults get comfortable, Inuyasha lies on the tree branch. 'Kagome, just hang in there. I'll get you back.' He thinks hard in his head. Knowing him, he doesn't want the others to know how much Kagome means to him. At the same time, Kagome is sleeping in her locked-up cell, not being to get out of the chains that bind her to the wall behind her. 'Inuyasha, where are you? I feel that I'm helpless here, no hope, no faith. Nothing.' She thinks in sorrow. Not just that, a single tear drops from her cheek and land on the ground.

Naraku leisurely sits on the wooden floor of his room observing the scene in Kanna's mirror. "Kagome is weak without him." He states sinisterly. From what he can clearly see is that Kagome is just a damsel in distress and waiting for her knight in shiny armor to come save her. But that's not what's going on her. It's nothing more than a trap. But the only thing is that Inuyasha and his friends aren't aware. Neither does anyone else. "Wakana." He speaks out. Wakana walks in obediently to wait his order. "I want you to lure Inuyasha and his friends here. But they must be weak when they arrive. I have something for you to help you out." Naraku throws something to the hooded woman. Wakana opens her hand to see that it's a wooden doll. Typical. "I'll be on my way." She bows and leaves the room

"Have you had enough with your wooden doll?" Kagura walks in after Wakana leaves. "I have more than enough to use them. Each of them has a different purpose. And this one by far the best one yet." Naraku grins through his answer. Kagura just look at him carefully. 'What does he have up his sleeve?' She asks herself.

Wakana walks out to the front of the castle's courtyard, she looks up to the closed gates. Soon enough the gates open up to allow the woman out of the property. Wakana looks at the wooden doll Naraku gave her. 'What is he up to?' She asks as she absently uses her other hand unclick the locket to leave her presence to the those who are desperate to come here.

_Somewhere in a serene meadow, with flowers swaying in the gentle breezes, a boy is lying on his back, enjoying the sun's warmth. "Inuyasha!" A voice calls out his name. The boy opens his one eye to see who is was that called out for him. "Oh, there you are." The person smiles as it comes closer to the boy. The boy sits up to get a better look around him. There stands a girl in a weird set of clothes he never seen before. Unlike his one outfit which a suit of red that is a big too big for him. But for him, he likes it how he can easily move around him. To complete his appearance, he has long silvery hair that reached to his behind. Along with the hair, two strands that looked like pigtails with nothing to hold them in place. But that's not all. He has two triangular dog ears on top on his head. _

_The girl's outfit isn't anything like his own. For what she's wearing is a white top with long sleeves that have a little green cape with a little red tie of some sort. But what might be something that's not really appropriate for him is a green skirt that's too short for her. For what the boy knows is that the other girls don't wear such things. They wear clothes like his own with wraps around their waists. Not that he's complaining. But this girl is something to behold. She has love raven black hair that reach to the bottom of her back, with rich chocolate eyes that look inviting to anyone she sees._

"_Are you okay?" Her voice was soft, with care and love. "How is it that you know me?" The boy asks her curiously. The girl blinks her eyes, "Don't you remember me?" She asks him in slight surprise. "No. Am I supposed to know you?" The boy shakes his head to prove his answer. That's when the girl sits down on her knees in front of him. "So, you have no idea who I am?" She leans closer to him. He shakes his head again. The girl pulls back. That's when a few more people come up behind her. "Who are you?" The boy asks the others. _

_That's when the sky becomes pitch black. Not even his eyes could help him see around. "Inuyasha!" The girl's cry is full of fright, sounded like trouble is upon her. The boy realized who is was. "Kagome!" He shouts out back as he tries to go to her, but doesn't have the slightest clue where she. _

Inuyasha sits up straight from his perch panting, "Kagome." He murmurs. He looks up to see the sun is about to rise over the land to bring in the new day. A day. More like the day he will get Kagome back into his safe arms and get her voice back as well.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32: We Mean A Lot to You

Miroku and Sango wake up to get ready to help Inuyasha save Kagome from Naraku's clutches. "I somehow found out which way to go." Inuyasha jumps down from the tree he slept in. "Really? Where?" Sango asks as Kirara transforms into her saber-toothed form. "It's the east." Inuyasha said confidently. "How can you be sure it's that way, Inuyasha. Yesterday we had not the slightest clue which way to go." Miroku asks him, not sure that he's right about what he said. "I just have a hunch where she is." Inuyasha stares at him before he heads in the direction. Sango and Miroku looked at each, not really sure if he's telling the truth or being in a wild goose chance. Finding out that they have no choice, they get onto Kirara's back and follow Inuyasha.

Kagome flutters her eyes, still dark in her cell. 'Inuyasha? Where are you?' She asks in her head. No way she can scream for how scared she is in this musty moldy room. "I see you're up." Naraku's voice gets her immediate attention. "How pitiful you're in. For the looks of things, I highly doubt Inuyasha is lost to find. And that's exactly what I did." He grins sinisterly at her. Kagome wanted to get away from him. Just feeling his presence is sending chills up her spine. "Try all you might, you're chained up and you can't do a thing about it." Naraku whispers into her ear. He pulls away to lift her chin to make her look at him. "And from the looks of it, you're nothing but an impudent person who shouldn't be here in this world." He spoke evilly to her. Using the last of her strength, Kagome whips her head away from him as well glares at him. "Typical. But then again, Kikyo did something similar to me the other time I captured her earlier." He releases her and turns his gaze to her before leaving the room.

Inuyasha and his friends make their way up a mountain range. "What makes you think you'll find Naraku's castle up here?" Sango shouts out to him. Inuyasha jumps onto a boulder to smell the area carefully. "Like I said, I have hunch it's somewhere up here." He answers her. "You do know what the word 'hunch' really means." Miroku comes up to him from the bottom of the boulder. "Teach me oh monk." Inuyasha mocks him. All Miroku could do is twitch his indigo eye. "It means that you have a belief or idea about something that is not based on facts or evidence." He gives Inuyasha the word's definition.

Inuyasha looks down to him, "You listen here. I know fully well what the word means, and for your information, I feel it that it's in my gut to follow it." He glares at him before standing back up to sniff around. Sango comes up to him. "We get that Kagome means a lot to you, but you should know better not to leave us out. She means a lot to us as well." She advices him. Inuyasha flattens his ears on his ears. "Maybe that went too far, Sango." Miroku whispers to her. But all Sango could do is get up to the boulder and slap Inuyasha in the face.

Almost losing his balance, Inuyasha jumps off and lands onto the rocky terrain. "What the hell is wrong with you, Sango?" He shouts at her. Sango is walking up to him with a glare on her face, "You have no clue, do you?" She begins, "For all the times we went through, you only care about Kagome, and don't care about us." She growls.

Kirara hops onto Miroku's shoulder to show how scared she is. Miroku strokes her back to calm her down. "Do you have anything to care about us, the rest of the group? From the looks of it, you don't. Ever since I joined you guys after the destruction of my village, I thought that I would be able to find the right time to avenge my village."

Sango is about to hit until Miroku grabs her wrist. "He gets it, Sango. You've done enough as it is." He pulls her away from the hanyou. She yanks her wrist away before running off. Kirara is about to go after her, but Miroku holds her tightly. "She needs to calm down." He tells her. All Kirara could do is mew sadly.

Sango runs as far away as she can. She's not to run from the group from frustration. But from the looks of it, it went too far. Sango comes up to a little stream. She cups her hands to splash her face from the cold water. "What was I thinking? I was so mad at him, that I forgot all about the task in head." She sits down on a rock, trying to clear her head. "Sango?" Miroku comes from the direction she came from. Sango looks up to see him with Kirara on his shoulder still. Sango gestures Kirara to come to her. Kirara hops off and gets onto Sango's lap, purring loudly to let her know that she's here for her.

"You going to be okay?" Miroku asks her immediately. Sango shakes her head. "No. I was just so mad at Inuyasha for how he's been ever since Kagome was captured." Miroku nods, "I know. Throughout the times Kagome's been captured, Inuyasha would just ignore anyone who would try to help him. From what I know about his past is that he was much of a loner ever since his mother passed. He was mostly on his own, doing what he could to survive." He explains to Sango gently to calm her down. "Not much of a team player." Sango comments to him quickly. "True, you were part of a great team to defeat any demon, let alone defend your village." Miroku agrees how her past is like, which is way different than Inuyasha's.

Inuyasha is lying on a boulder not far from the area where Miroku had to calm Sango down after her outburst. Little did any of them knew, he was about to hear what they were saying. And the part to compare between a loner person to survivor and a team player. He had to think back the times that they had to work together to defeat their enemy. When it came to personal enemies, the rest of the group wanted to help him, but he preferred that he took care of it because it was none of their business. He sighs silently. 'It wouldn't hurt to ask for help.' Kagome voice tells him from before. All he could do is to clear his mind and think about which method is best to achieve victory.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Blood

Kagome wakes up to still find herself in the pitch black dungeon cell. "Awake again I see." Naraku speaks sinisterly to her. Kagome looks up to see him with something in his hand. Kagome's eyes are blurry so she can't tell what it is that's in his possession. "Want to know what's in my hand?" He asks playfully with danger. He walks up closer to give her a better view of the item. "Recognize this?" He asks her as he let it swing freely. 'That pendant.' Kagome slightly widens her eyes, not to show how shocked she is. "Don't play dumb. You know fully well this is. The is Wakana's pendant that holds your precious voice." Naraku grins at her. "And from the looks of it, whenever it's opened, you can actually speak, but when it's closed you can't. How sad." He mocks her while explaining the pendant's power.

All Kagome could do is angrily look at him with disgust. Noticing that the pendant is closed she can't speak. "Oh, you want to have a word with me. Fine." He opens the pendant, pulsating to Kagome's vocal chords. "You're sick, Naraku. All you do is use other people to do your dirty. You're nothing but a coward." Kagome said to him confidently. "Oh, I've heard it before. And so have you. You know how I do my dirty. No matter what I do, I just don't feel that I need to fight you or your team. And I bet you know what the outcome was when you met your teammates. They had to suffer through and through and that's what I like to do to them." He continues on. Not just that, he transforms his one arm to a tentacle. "I wonder how loud you scream if I impale you somewhere on your body." He taunts her.

Kagome actually widens her eyes by that. "From the looks of this, you don't want to get hurt no matter what." He stabs her on the side where the jewel was pulled out when she arrived here. Even with the force she holds her screams, not having her pride to get hurt easily. "Oh, It seems you're not scream. Interesting. Even with your voice back. But that's not where you're going to be detected." He snaps his fingers to allow a wall to open up to show outside. "I know one thing that Inuyasha cannot resist." He gazes at her. "Your presence means a lot to him. Your voice, and your scent or in this case your blood." As such the scent of Kagome's blood flows out of the room. "I wonder how long it'll take Inuyasha to sniff this scent of yours?" Naraku said curiously.

Inuyasha and the crew continue on walking. Running for so long has worn him out. That's when Kirara's fur stand straight up. "What is it, Kirara?" Sango asks her. Kirara hops off Sango's shoulder and transforms into her saber-toothed form. "I smell blood." Inuyasha tells them. "Blood? I don't see any battles going on." Miroku looks around the area. "It's not many scents of blood. It's Kagome's blood." Inuyasha turns to the direction of the Kagome's blood. "It's coming from that way." He tells them. Not wasted another second, Sango and Miroku hop onto Kirara's back to follow Inuyasha.

Naraku observes Kagome's shirt getting stained with her blood. "I wonder where else I should get your blood out. A lot of options." He walks around the girl. "No don't." Kagome quietly begs. Naraku raised his one brow. "Really? A few minutes ago, you wouldn't say anything to stop me. And now your begging for mercy." That's when he impales her left shoulder. With such intense pain, Kagome screams much louder than the last time. "Ah, such a delightful scream." Naraku grins wickedly.

As Inuyasha follow Kagome's blood scent, the sound of her scream is heard from his ears. "Kagome. Hang on." He tells to her despite not her being able to hear him. That's when something stopped him. "Why'd you stop?" Miroku asks as they caught up to him. Inuyasha narrows his eyes. "This is Naraku's barrier. Get back." He draws out Tetsusaiga, letting it pulse red. He roars fiercely as the sword slashed the barrier apart. All of a sudden, a castle comes to view. "I sense a demonic aura." Sango tells him. "No doubt. Kagome is here too." Inuyasha agrees as he sheaths Tetsusaiga and runs on ahead.

Naraku leaves the room. "It looks like Inuyasha has arrived much sooner than expected." He tells the three girls who are waiting in the hallway from the dungeon. "What are your orders, Milord?" Kanna asks him. "Let them come and take her. But I'm going to do the controlling when they get her. Wakana." He turns to the other woman. "Don't let them get Kagome's voice back." He throws the pendant at her which she catches it and puts it on. Naraku leaves them alone. Kagura turns to Wakana. "There's no way I'm going to have Naraku get his way." She crossed her arms annoyed. "We don't disobey Naraku, Kagura." Kanna looks up to her. "You do remember the last time you tried to run away." She reminds her. "I don't need to. I know how it felt." She walks away. Wakana looks towards the door that leads to the dungeon. "I'm going to keep my vow to obey Naraku in order to keep Kimi safe from harm. There's no way I'm going to have a child to experience such a horrific sight." She fiddles her pendant. Kanna decides to vanish to leave the mother alone.

Inuyasha and his friends make it to the courtyard. "Got any idea when Kagome is?" Miroku asks he as he and Sango dismount Kirara's back. "Her scent is everywhere. We cannot go in. Naraku might be hiding anywhere in the castle." He responds to them. "Not just that, His incarnations might be doing the same thing." Sango adds the missing detail. "Which leaves us to split up. That was we can cover more ground. You and Kirara try to pinpoint Kagome's blood. Our first priority is to save her." Miroku takes over the plan. Inuyasha agrees as he does to one part of the castle while everyone else go in a different direction. "There's no going back. We made it this far." Inuyasha said to himself as he enters the back entrance of the castle.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34 Castle Maze

Naraku watches the scenes from Kanna's mirror. "Everything is going according to plan, Milord." Kanna informs him nonchalantly. But that's not entirely true. "No, there's something missing." Naraku disagrees with her. "And what would that be?" Kanna asks him with a bit of curiosity. "There's a few characters missing in the group." Naraku answers the question after realizing the problem. "It turns out that the fox child is not with them." He tells the missing fact.

Inuyasha runs around the castle hallways, all over the place. From one turn to another, neither of them are leading him the right direction on where to find Kagome. "Dammit! This place is like a maze." He comments the scenario of the castle. "You could only see with just your eyes, Inuyasha." Kagura tells him from behind. Inuyasha turns around to see her just standing there playing with her fan. "You better tell me where Kagome is." He threatens her dangerously. "Even I told you where she is, you still wouldn't be able to find her." Kagura replies casually, not feeling like fighting him.

"Stop wasting my time." Inuyasha is about to draw his sword, but Kagura opens her fan, "Dance of Blades." She shouts as light blades appear and head towards him. Using quick reflexes, Inuyasha manages to cut through them before they could hit him. "That was too easy." He said as he observes his action. Normally, Kagura's dance of blades are much harder to cut through. 'She's holding back. Being inside is dangerous at the least. Kagome could've been in any of the rooms around here.' Inuyasha said to himself. As soon as he looks where Kagura was, she vanished.

Sango and Miroku are walking carefully in the hallways on the other side of the castle. "Can you sense anything, Kirara?" Sango asks her feline companion. Kirara sniffs around the area. She growls while shaking her head. "I guess she can't at the moment. But something baffles me." Miroku comments to them. "What do you mean?" Sango looks up to him. Miroku walks up ahead of her a little. "When we first arrived, Both Kirara and Inuyasha were able to smell Kagome's blood all over the castle." He explains to her so far.

"And your point is?" Sango comes up to him. "It'd be as if Naraku has multiple spot where Kagome's blood, leading us on a wild goose chase." He confirms it before opening a door to one side to see if he's right. No doubt about it, there's a bucket with red fluid in it. "Oh no. That's Kagome's blood." Kirara nods her head. "How odd. A few seconds ago, Kirara wasn't able to smell her blood, and now she's able to." Sango tells Miroku. "Maybe the doors have a seal to block off the smell." Miroku places his hand on the door and can tell that there's something on it. "Look up there." He looks up to the ceiling. Sango looks up as well. "What is that?" She asks him. "Kirara, could you give us a lift to the ceiling?" Miroku asks the feline. Kirara nods as she transforms into her bigger form to get Miroku onto her back and fly up to the high ceiling.

Kirara gets close to the ceiling so that Miroku could get a better look at what he found. He pulls it down from the beam. "What did you find up there?" Sango calls out to him. Kirara flies back down to show her. "This." He gives it to her. Sango looks at it, which made her widen her eyes. "It's a wooden doll. But would it be Naraku who activate it?" Sango is confused at the end.

Miroku narrows his eyes, "Normally that'd be the case. But from what this is position, Naraku is missing one thing." He said to her serious. "And that would be…" Sango looks up to him. "Her voice." He gives the final hint. Sango figured it out that somehow Naraku is using Kagome's blood as well as her voice to lead them in the wrong direction. "We have to tell Inuyasha. We can't have him going to every room to find it a dead end." She advices them. The other two agree as they head in the direction where Inuyasha might be.

Kagome is losing her vision due to the two wounds that Naraku inflected on her earlier. 'I can't close my wounds.' Kagome said weakly. That's when the chains release her, making her fall to the ground. All Kagome could do is grunt due to the impact of the hard-stone floor. She is then being lifted up onto someone's shoulder. Trying to see who it was the free, "What…" She starts off. "Shh. Don't say anything." The person who is carrying her is Wakana. "Inuyasha and his friends are here. I've been tasked to take you somewhere in the castle." She explains to her. Kagome wanted so bad to say something but knowing that saying something could slip and might lead to something else.

Wakana comes of the door that lead into the dungeon. Looking around the hallway to make sure the coast was clear, she comes out entirely and make a run for it. With so much bouncing on the woman's shoulder, Kagome couldn't stay awake any longer, and falls unconscious. Little did she know that some of her blood is dripping all over the hallway. 'I have to get her somewhere else. She's not to suffer.' Wakana said to herself as they disappear into the darken hallway.

Inuyasha turns to a corner of the endless hallways. "Damn, where is she?" He growls impatiently. "Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice gets his immediate attention. "Help me!" She cried in distress. "Kagome, where are you?" Inuyasha shouts out to pin point the right room for where she is. "I'm in here." Kagome shouts back. But that's where things get odd. "Please Inuyasha. I'm not going to make it." She cries out even more. Inuyasha instinctively walks down the hallway. One by one the hallway has many doors leading to a room after another. He walks to one door to his right. Just when his is about to open it. "Inuyasha, don't do it!" Miroku shouts out to him. Too late.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35 Repeated Pathway

Inuyasha opens the doors to find something horrifying. True he faced horrific demons before, but this one takes the cake. What it was, was unlike anything before. Right in front of him is Kagome, but not the actually Kagome they know and love. This Kagome is being surrounded with various demon. Kind of like whenever Naraku releases demons from within his own body. "Inuyasha." Her voice cries for help. Inuyasha is about to charge in, "Inuyasha. Don't!" Miroku grabs him as Sango closes the door immediately after him.

"What's wrong with you?" Inuyasha asks him angrily. "Inuyasha, trust me. When you first saw her, what was it that you were going to do?" Miroku looks at him with concern. "I just had this urge to save her." Inuyasha replies back to him. "Seriously, Inuyasha." Sango comes up to him. "Whenever Kagome is involved, you would do nothing but to save her. The least you should do is to think through the situation thoroughly before going in rashly." She explains the problem. Inuyasha is about to snap back. "Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice shouts out more desperately than the last time. "Did you hear that?" Inuyasha looks up to them. "No, I don't hear anything." Miroku tells him. Sango shrugs her shoulders. "Inuyasha!" The voice shouts out again. Inuyasha is about to make a run for it.

"Kirara, pin him down." Sango calls out to her feline companion. Kirara pounces onto him on his back to prevent him from getting away. "What is wrong with you?" Inuyasha managed to turn his gaze to them. "Inuyasha, seriously, have you not learned what I told you earlier." Sango walks to him. "Like hell I listen to your stuff." Inuyasha ignores her. "Honestly, you don't get it, do you." Miroku walks to the other side. "What?" Inuyasha glares at him.

"Clueless as usual. Inuyasha what you don't know is that all these rooms are part a trap that uses Kagome's body to mess with you. It's meant to keep us distracted from saving the real one." Miroku explains to him. "What are you talking about?" Inuyasha asks as he tries to get out of Kirara's grip. "Sango and I came across a room that had Naraku's wooden dolls, along with Kagome's blood on it. That is how these puppets look like Kagome with her blood." Miroku explains to him to make sure it made sense to him.

Finally understanding where this is going, Inuyasha relaxes realizing his errors in the situation. Kirara unpins him to let him get up. "So, what do you recommend we do?" He asks them more calmly. "For starters, we ignore the rooms." Sango said obviously. "So then where do we go? From the looks of this place, it's like a maze." Inuyasha comments the layout of the hallways. Miroku concentrates on the area. "I can't pinpoint Kagome's spiritual powers. And the scent of Kagome's blood is not to be tempted with." He explains what he experienced before.

Kagome comes to, finding herself somewhere else in the castle. "Where am I?" She was able to talk. "We're not in the dungeon. I can tell you that much." Wakana comes to her. Kagome looks around to see that she's in a regular room of the castle. She can see a window to look outside. Shocking enough, it's high. More like a tower. "Why did you bring me here?" She asks the woman as she calms down. "I'm trying to keep you away from your friends. Or so that would seem." Wakana answers her. "What are you talking about?" Kagome is confused from her. "Naraku has set up a trap for your friends. He's using your blood to put onto his wooden dolls and place them in each room of the castle." Wakana gives her the information. Kagome looks to her wounds that Naraku inflected her earlier. So far, the one on her shoulder has dried up but it still hurts whenever she moves it. The one of the other side, same matter.

"So, it is just a distraction?" Kagome asks her. Wakana sadly nods to her. "Afraid so. But I doubt it won't last long. I think the monk and demon slayer managed to figured it out before Inuyasha did." Wakana responds to her. From the tone of her voice, make Kagome think about her motives. Kagome tries to stand up, but Wakana halts her. "You stay put. I can't have you wondering around the castle." She warns Kagome. Kagome nods as she sits back down on the mat. "I'm guarding you. But don't worry. I'm not going to let you get hurt." She assures her at the end.

Inuyasha ignores more of the fake Kagome's voices. Making sure he doesn't fall for more of the tricks Sango and Miroku warn him. "So where should we go next?" Inuyasha asks as they come to a split of the hallways. "For I prefer we stick together. We can't split up." Miroku advices him. "But wouldn't we split cover more ground?" Sango asks him. "Ironically, we did. If I were to know any better, these hallways are more like a repeated path." Miroku comes to one spot of the hallway. "Look there." He points to the beam over them. Inuyasha looks closely to it. "It's cracked." He then figured out something. Not just that, something is out of place. "What is it, Inuyasha?" Sango asks him. "I believe we're with a barrier that repeats our surroundings." He draws out the Tetsusaiga. Soon enough it pulsates red. With a slash in the air, the hallway becomes nothing more than a staircase. "I can sense Kagome's spiritual powers up there." Miroku tells him immediately. Inuyasha doesn't waste another second as he bolts upstairs to the second floor of the castle.

The group make it to the second floor of the castle. "Nicely done." Naraku's voice speaks this time. He is standing in front of the group. Inuyasha goes in front. "Enough of these games, Naraku." He growls as he keeps on his toes. "On the contrary, Inuyasha. My castle is full of games that even with the slightest of temptation will you be defeated in a matter of seconds. And I'm not only having your precious Kagome as an example." Naraku chuckles. Soon enough, a few other people come out the rooms. And in front of them just looking at them has the group tempted for sure.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Deadly Temptations

Each individual person silently stands at each room entrance. Inuyasha is too drawn to see not just one but two people he knows. He subconsciously walks in the one direction where the two are standing in. Once he steps into the room, the room itself turns into something else entirely. He finds himself in the forest where the sacred tree resides in. A rustle of running gets his attention. He turns to the sight where the running is coming. He widens his golden eyes

What Inuyasha is seeing is himself running with the sacred jewel in his clawed. "Finally, a way for me to become an all demon at last." He speaks greedily as he makes his way into the forest. "Inuyasha!" Kikyo shouts at him as she prepares to shoot her sacred arrow at him. Inuyasha leaps in front of the sacred tree until the arrow pierced into his chest against the tree's bark. As such, the impact of the arrow forced Inuyasha to drop the jewel from his grasps as the arrow's sealing begins to take effect. "Kikyo? How could…I thought…" But then he passes out into a deep slumber.

"You remember how it all started, Inuyasha." Kikyo walks up to him from behind. "Yeah. How we were both tricked into thinking that it was us who betrayed each other." He calmly replies to her. "And if Naraku never came into the frame, we wouldn't have a better life together." He adds in. As such the scene changes into something else. The first thing that appeared was a hut. As if the village that Kikyo lived in never change. "Mommy." A child's voice speaks gleefully. The hut's door flap turns to one side to allow someone to come out. That sight alone made Inuyasha widen his eyes like saucer plates.

Miroku and Sango chase Inuyasha to the room he walked into until a barrier blocked their entrance. "Leave Inuyasha to his temptation. You have your own." Naraku chuckles as he observes quietly. "Sister." Kohaku's voice gets her attention automatically. "Kohaku…" She begins to walk towards him. Kirara charges to prevent Sango from getting anywhere near Kohaku. But as she is about to take hold of her, Sango vanishes into thin air. Kirara groans as she cries for her friend. "Calm down, Kirara. She's under a spell." Miroku strokes her head. "It's a good thing I placed this on you." Miroku strokes a particular part of the feline's neck. Within Kirara's fur is a string of prayer beads. "With that on, you're immune to Naraku's temptation. As such the temptation of Kirara's mistress Midoriko was not even there. Like it was just a holograph. She looks up to Miroku to see what he can think of next. "From what I know so far. This floor is dangerous on a whole new level." He comments the floor's purpose.

The child that came out of the hut looks like a miniature version of Inuyasha. The child has the same silvery hair, but somehow the ends of the hair is straight instead of pointy. "Inukimi, we have to look for your father." A familiar voice speaks to the child. Inuyasha observes to see it's Kikyo coming out of the hut with her bow and quiver of arrows. Never in his life would he ever see anything like it. "This could've been our future, Inuyasha." Kikyo informs him calmly.

Soon enough the scene changes to where the mother and child come up the hill to find someone fighting a demon. "You'll never get your hands on the sacred jewel." Inuyasha voice shouts as he keeps on clawing the enemy. Kikyo and Inukimi watch the red clothed person protect them. "Like I said, you're just weak, Inuyasha." The demon mocks him.

"That's me?" Inuyasha from the sidelines asks Kikyo. All Kikyo does is nod slowly, "Yes. You see Inuyasha, if Naraku never did to us, we would've had a better life. Without the jewel, I'd be free of my duties as a priestess to keep it pure. I would've become a normal woman. Look after my sister, Kaede." Kikyo explains the timeline. Inuyasha looks down to his hands. "I let you stay as a half-demon. Knowing that you were best suited to protect the village from intruders." Kikyo speaks softly to him. "And the jewel?" He doesn't turn to her. But the sound curiosity was more than enough for Kikyo to reply. "I wished it to disappear. That it was never meant to be here in the first place." As such, Inuyasha managed to see something else. Something that was missing from within. "Inuyasha." It was Kagome's voice who made him turn.

Sango blinks her eyes to find herself in a field of lilies. "Where am I?" Sango asks herself as she carefully walks around the field. "Sister." Kohaku's voice speaks to her from behind. Sango turns around to hug him but she goes right through him like a ghost. "Sister. Save me." Kohaku shouts in fear as his being surrounded by demons. Sango tries to get the demons off of him, but like before she keeps on going through, making it impossible for her to save him. "You can't save him." Naraku's voice speaks from somewhere around them. "Damn you, Naraku!" Sango shouts as she tries to pinpoint where the foul demon is. "Nor can you save yourself." Naraku laughs wickedly. Sango stands back up. "You'll never get away with this." She shouts in anger as she turns around every few seconds.

Miroku and Kirara try to open the door that Sango walked into. Kirara looks to the other door that Inuyasha went through. "I know, Kirara. Inuyasha can pull it off, but Sango is in more danger than Inuyasha is." Miroku assures her as he bangs the door with his staff but the electricity of the door zap him back. "Barrier. Typical." Miroku glares at it. He takes a deep breathe to figure on how to locate the weak point of the hallway. "There." He shuts out as he pulls out a sutra to throw it at the spot. Once the sutra hit the spot that Miroku located, the power from within pulsate the entire hallway.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Overcoming the Issue

Inuyasha turns to one side where someone else is calling his name. His sight shows that it's the Sacred Tree. The scar from Inuyasha being sealed by Kikyo and her sacred arrow. "Inuyasha." The voice calls out again. He turns to a different direction to find where the voice is coming from. He is somehow subconsciously walking towards somewhere else in the forest. He comes out to a clearing to find the dried-up bone eater's well in the middle.

"Inuyasha." The voice is coming out of the well. He walks up to well and look down into the darken depths. "Who's in there?" He speaks down inside. That's when the well glows in an eerie bluish light. Soon enough the light fades away and a girl appears below it. "Who are you?" Inuyasha asks the girl. The girl looks up to see him. "It's me. Kagome." So, it turns out that the girl who's been calling out to him was this girl, Kagome. "How is it that you know my name?" He asks her as Kagome climbs up the well's vines. "How? I freed you from the arrow that impaled you to the Sacred tree." Kagome answers him as she jumps out of the well.

Inuyasha raised his one eyebrow. When Kagome came out of the well, her wardrobe is nothing he has ever seen before. Instead of kimonos he's wearing, Kagome is wearing a green skirt that might've been too short for a girl in this day in age to wear. Her top is white with a green cape looking top with a red ribbon tied at the middle of her chest. Her footwear is a pair of brown shoes with white knee length socks.

But that's not the only thig that is making Inuyasha to be vary about her. It's her features that's doing that. Her facial and long black hair. She's a copy of another woman that Inuyasha knows. "Ah, Kagome. There you are." An old voice gets their attention. Kagome and Inuyasha turn to see an old woman in priestess attire. "Oh, hello, Kaede." Kagome walks up to her to give a warm hug. "Oh it's good to see ye too, Kagome." Kaede returns the hug. "Kaede. What's wrong with Inuyasha?" Kagome whispers to her. Kaede look up to see Inuyasha in a confused state. "Inuyasha, what's the matter with ye?" She walks to him, placing her hand onto his forehead. "Ye don't have a fever." She tells him so far. "Who is she, Kaede? I've never seen her before." He tells her rudely.

Kagome blinks her eyes. 'Did he lose his memory?' She asks herself. "Are ye that dense, Inuyasha? That's Kagome. She's Kikyo's reincarnation." Kaede tells him calmly. "How to hell is she's Kikyo's reincarnation?" Inuyasha points to the girl. Kagome isn't too surprised. She knows throughout the time, Kaede had to remind him about that fact, despite how stubborn he is. "When Kikyo passed away, her soul transcended through time, until Kagome was born. But little did we know, that soul possessed the Sacred Jewel within her body." Kaede explains to him. Inuyasha turns to see Kagome just looking at him curiously. "And her appearance isn't the only thing that will remind you about Kikyo." Kaede adds the missing tip.

Kagome walks off towards the village. That's when she vanished. Inuyasha spotted the scene. "Hey!" He runs after her. When he is about to grab her shoulder, something prevented him. He flies at a few feet to see the scene around himself turns to something else. "Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice shouts out to him. Inuyasha finds himself inside the castle courtyard. "Kagome!" He shouts in fright. Kagome is on the ground, bleeding a lot, as a small puddle is forming under her body. He quickly picks her up and turns her over. From the looks of it, her white shirt is stained in deep scarlet. From her arms, and sides, and her legs are slashed. "How pitiful." Naraku's voice speaks out to him. Inuyasha turns to sound and widens his eyes to see Naraku disguised as him. Same wardrobe and the facial are more than enough. But that's where the similarities end.

Naraku's disguise is that of Inuyasha's full demon form. The purple jagged stripes on the cheeks, the fangs overlapping the lower lip, the claws, doubled in length, and the eyes are red with teal irises. "As you can see, Inuyasha. I was the one who wounded her. Quite severely as well." Naraku walks down towards the group. Fearing for Kagome's life, Inuyasha bundles Kagome in his arms and makes a run for the exit.

Just when Inuyasha is about to get out of the castle walls, he finds himself back in the spot where He found Kagome's body. "It's useless, Inuyasha. Try all you want, but you won't escape from her. Knowing that Naraku's right, Inuyasha won't let him get his way. "Face it, Inuyasha. Kagome saw you kill her. Like the time I disguised you and Kikyo to think that you both betrayed each other." Naraku taunts him even more. Just hearing that, made Inuyasha look down to the girl in his arms. Never in his life would he ever hurt her. Even if he did transform. A cough gets his attention.

"Inuyasha." Kagome murmurs weakly. Inuyasha holds her face to make sure she looks at him. "Why?" She managed to speak. "Why what?" Inuyasha asks her confused. "Why did you hurt me? I never done anything to you." Kagome asks him specifically this time. Inuyasha realizes that she's preferring to Naraku, but not himself. "Kagome, listen to me. I would never, _ever _hurt you. No matter what." He assures her as he is trying his best to stay strong for her. Kagome opens her eyes to see him with a look of concern and something else that she couldn't describe. "It wasn't me. I swear that I never did." He chokes as her embraces her protectively.

Kagome can tell that him shaking is proof enough that he's telling the true. "If it wasn't then, who was it that…" She blinks her eyes to turn her sight to the copy of Inuyasha, but in his demon form. 'But how?' She asks in baffle. "Oh, Kagome. How clueless can you really be?" Naraku speaks out of the disguise. Kagome widens her eyes. She tries to move her body but the blood loss made her numb and dizzy. "I'll never let you hurt her again, Naraku!" Inuyasha stands back up with her in his arms bridal style. "Mark my words, messing with my life, my friends, even the ones I love, is the biggest mistake you've ever made!" He shouts at the top of his lungs.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38 Fear and Confidence

As such with his might, the illusion fades away to return Inuyasha back to the room he entered earlier. He looks down to see Kagome's body not in his arms. 'Just an illusion.' He tells himself as he looks around the room. Like any room with decorations and tapestry. Nothing. A sudden thud gets his attention. "It's coming from the next floor up." He leaves the room to find the staircase that will lead him to Kagome. But before he decides to go to the next floor, he looked into the room that Sango and Miroku went in. For what he sees is that they're not in there. "Miroku! Sango!" He shouts into the room

Sango is unconscious on the floor. "Sango!" Inuyasha's voice calls out to her. "Inuyasha!" Miroku shouts back as he runs to Sango's body. Soo enough Inuyasha comes to them. "We have to be careful. These rooms are full of illusions." Miroku tells him as he gets Sango onto Kirara's back. "Yeah, I figured that out myself." Inuyasha murmurs in disbelief. "What did you see when you went in?" Miroku asks him curiously. The look in Inuyasha's golden eyes was more than enough to let Miroku know exactly what he saw. "I see. I won't question you any further." He respectfully tells him as they leave the room. "How is Sango?" Inuyasha asks him as he easily carries Sango's Hiraikostu behind him since Sango is out cold. "She just went through another suffering episode of her brother's death." Miroku could only answer what he witnessed.

Inuyasha nods, seeing how personal this topic is to him, and more importantly to Sango. Kirara growls worriedly. "It's ok, Kirara. I'm pretty sure that Sango will come to. She just had to go through the same thing." Miroku strokes her ear to calm her down. All Kirara could do is purr to accept the stroking from the monk. "We should get going. There's no telling what Naraku might be up to." Inuyasha changes the topic to return to the purpose of this mission. Miroku nods back as they jog towards the staircase to get to the next level.

Kagome just looks outside of the tiny window of the room she's in with Wakana. "Your friends are strong, Kagome." Wakana assures her, trying to keep the mood lighten up. "Yeah, we've been through a lot of battles before. And this one is no different." Kagome replies to her. Wakana can see how uncomfortable Kagome is here. But she had to be careful with her duty Naraku ordered to guard her. "And they managed to get through the illusionary floor." Wakana tells her. "The illusionary floor?" Kagome asks her quickly. Wakana turns to the girl. "I'm just impressed that they managed to pull it off, but barely made it out alive." She adds. "That floor has rooms, each with an illusion meant for each person who enters in. I can tell you what each of them saw in the rooms." She offers a kind smile. Kagome hardly nodded, letting the woman to continue on.

"For Sango, she went through the same night when her and her family were on duty to slay a giant spider demon." Wakana starts off. "She wasn't aware about the deception that the lord who order them to slay it. The younger boy was being controlled by the lord to slay the group and Sango had to choose to slay him or be slain by him." Kagome remembers the time when they went to a hot spring and noticed the scar of her back. "But she still had hope that one day she will get him back and hope for the best that he will live one and forget about that night." Wakana finishes her tale.

"Miroku entered into one and went through the more horrific scene of him life. The wind tunnel that his father had grew bigger. Miroku's master Mushin, and to keep him around or Miroku would be sucked in with his father." Wakana begins on the monk's backstory. "I know how Miroku's life was like for him. He's trying his best to kill Naraku in order to remove the curse that Naraku inflected his grandfather." Kagome interrupts her. Wakana doesn't look surprised. "I see. So, I guess you don't want to know what Inuyasha went through when he entered one of the rooms." She temps the girl. Seeing the look on the girl's face is more than enough for Wakana to speak.

"Inuyasha went through the time when he and Kikyo were going to be together. As such, Naraku was not even there to trick the both of them betraying each other." Kagome keeps on listening attentively. "They had a family. A daughter who had Inuyasha's hair color, but with Kikyo's hair structure." All Kagome could do is hold her tears to hear such a thing. "But then something happened." Wakana turns to her. "You called out to him." Kagome just blinked. Wakana positions her hands and fingers to make their room into the same scene where they are watching Inuyasha slashing Kagome.

"Inuyasha stop it." Kagome shouts at them. But nothing. "In here, we are not heard or seen. All we can do is see the illusion." Wakana sternly said to her. So, Kagome had no choice but to watch the show. She just couldn't stand to see herself being slashed by Inuyasha. "Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice calls out of nowhere. Kagome is confused now. How could Inuyasha be calling out to when he's slaying her. Soon enough Inuyasha arrives at the scene to find himself holding the near unconscious Kagome in his arms. "If that's Inuyasha? Then who's disguised…" Kagome walks to go behind the duo to get a good look at the imposter. When the imposter spoke, that's when Kagome recognized who it was. "Naraku!" She widens her eyes. She charges towards the imposter but she just went through him.

"Remember, Kagome. Even though we're here, you can't be seen or heard." Kagome sees now. "Nor to touch them." She adds the missing fact. "Exactly." Wakana sadly agrees with her. All Kagome do is to watch the rest of the scene.

"Inuyasha." Kagome murmurs weakly. Inuyasha holds her face to make sure she looks at him. "Why?" She managed to speak. "Why what?" Inuyasha asks her confused. "Why did you hurt me? I never done anything to you." Kagome asks him specifically this time. Inuyasha realizes that she's preferring to Naraku, but not himself. "Kagome, listen to me. I would never, _ever _hurt you. No matter what." He assures her as he is trying his best to stay strong for her. Kagome opens her eyes to see him with a look of concern and something else that she couldn't describe. "It wasn't me. I swear that I never did it." He chokes as her embraces her protectively.

Kagome can tell that him shaking is proof enough that he's telling the true. "If it wasn't then, who was it that…" She blinks her eyes to turn her sight to the copy of Inuyasha, but in his demon form. 'But how?' She asks in baffle. "Oh, Kagome. How clueless can you really be?" Naraku speaks out of the disguise. Kagome widens her eyes. She tries to move her body but the blood loss made her numb and dizzy. "I'll never let you hurt her again, Naraku!" Inuyasha stands back up with her in his arms bridal style. "Mark my words, messing with my life, my friends, even the ones I love, is the biggest mistake you've ever made!" He shouts at the top of his lungs.

As such the sight vanishes and the two girls are back in the room where they came from. "Now you know that Inuyasha will never give up looking for you, Kagome. That's proof enough." She has a point. Throughout the time, Inuyasha swore to make sure nothing happened to her, no matter what.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39 Family

Inuyasha and his group make it up to the next floor of the castle. "This is ridiculous." Inuyasha growls, getting fed up with this castle's layout. "We know you're frustrated. But we have to focus on saving Kagome." Miroku calms him down as he look up ahead to see what the floor is like. From the looks of it, it's a clearing of the entire floor. All there is are pillars and beams supporting the ceiling. "This is not what I was expecting." Inuyasha comments dryly. Sango agrees with him. "No doubt about it. Castles shouldn't really have such a space like this." She looks around carefully.

Miroku squint his eyes, trying to pinpoint anything unusual is one the floor. "From the looks of it, I'm not sensing any evil auras. What about you, Inuyasha?" He asks cautiously. Inuyasha silently sniffs the air, twitching his ears. "Nothing." He answers to him. He takes a few steps forward until something below him broke. He screams in surprise as he falls down to someplace below. "Inuyasha!" Sango and Miroku look down the hole. "You okay?" Miroku asks him.

Inuyasha lands onto his back. He groans from the impact. "Inuyasha!" Miroku shouts out to him. "I'm okay." Inuyasha shouts back. Miroku and Sango hop onto Kirara's back to fly down to floor. "Kirara, could you keep your fire going?" Sango asks her feline. Kirara nods as she ignites the fire around her paws and two tails. The fire lights up the room. "Where are we?" Sango asks. From the looks of it, the room is much smaller than the one above them. "Might be a storage room." Miroku comes up with an answer.

"If this is a storage room, why isn't there any items being stored away?" Inuyasha asks him in annoyance seeing that it's just them in the small room. "Just a guess. I'm not really to be honest." Miroku replies back. Inuyasha shakes his head. "Anyway, we need to get back up there." Sango suggests the guys. None of them said a word to disagree with her. As they get onto Kirara's back, the hole that broke before, was closed up and it was replaced with a new piece of wood. "What?" Inuyasha asks in surprise. "The floor shouldn't be able to repair itself." Miroku and Sango look up to see that Inuyasha isn't joking.

Kagome lies back against the wall behind her. Until something vibrated behind her. "What was that just now?" She asks Wakana. Wakana just sits on the other side of the room. "What?" She asks confused. "That noise. I even felt vibration after that." She specifically tells the older woman. "It must've been Naraku's shenanigans." She shrugs her shoulders, not really sure what that was. "Does Naraku have another trap set up to slow them down?" Kagome asks her curiously. From the tone of her voice, she's getting fed up being locked up in a room, under guard and nothing exciting is happening.

Wakana can see it how restless Kagome is. She can't blame her either. She wants to keep Kagome safe, even from Naraku's clutches. There's got to be something for her to help her escape this place. "How's Kimi?" Wakana asks Kagome. Kagome looks up to her. "Kimi? Oh she's doing good. She's back in the village with Kaede and Shippo. Inuyasha suggests that we leave them there. We don't want your daughter to come here to see you like this." Kagome responds back as she reassures her. Wakana nods. "That's good. As a mother, I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to her. I wouldn't forgive myself if that did happen." She looks down to the pendent. "I know how that feels." Kagome tells her a few minutes later. "You do?" Wakana looks up to her curiously.

Kagome nods back. "You might know by now that I'm not from this world, per say. I'm from 500 years into the future. I have my mom who's worried about my wellbeing. She never expected that I'd be in a world where there's dangers all around. But she was sure that I was in safe hands with Inuyasha." Wakana listens to her story. "And your mother is ok about you coming here?" She asks her curiously. "Yes, she okay with it. I'm supposed to be a normal teenager back home." Kagome replies back. Wakana pauses for a second. "But you have something else holding you back." She speaks up. "Like what?" Kagome looks at her.

The group land back onto the floor of the room. Kirara's fire keeps the room lit up to show what's inside. "No windows or doors." Sango observes their surroundings. "Well, that won't keep us in here." Inuyasha walks up to one wall as he flexes his knuckles. "Iron Reaver Soul Steeler!" He shouts as he slashes the wall to break it apart. Soon enough the exit was created but it leads them to the one room they would never expect to go into.

Kagome is about to speak out until the wall in the room breaks apart. "Finally!" Inuyasha shouts excitedly. "Inuyasha!" Kagome runs up to him. Inuyasha looks down to see Kagome safe and sound. "I'm here." He embraces her possessively. Sango and Miroku come in afterwards. "Thank Kami you're ok." Miroku smiles. Sango turns her sight to Wakana. "So you have to keep an eye on Kagome while we were on a wild goose chase." She walks up to her. Wakana nods and she hands over her pendant. "What's this?" Sango asks her. "This is the only way to escape the castle." She instructs the group. Sango opens up the pendant to reveal a shard of the Sacred Jewel.

Kagome blinks her brown eyes. "I had no idea a sacred Jewel shard was in there." She said in surprise. She touched the shard to purify it. "So how exactly do we get out of here anyway?" She asks Wakana. Wakana positions her fingers. "All is in the voice." She gives her one advice. That made Kagome to turn to her group hoping they understand what she meant by that. Sadly, no one did.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40: The Return

Inuyasha and the group managed to get out of the castle unharmed. Inuyasha turns around to see the miasma of the place was purified by Kagome unnoticed throughout that time. "Is something wrong, Inuyasha?" Kagome asks him. "Something's wrong. That's for sure." He replies as he narrows his eyes. "Like what?" She asks him as she comes up to him. "For instant, Naraku wouldn't want any of us to escape this place." He gives one example. He has a point. Normally when it comes to escaping a dangerous place, the escapees are never spared. "True. Not just him, but also Kagura and Kanna. Naraku would give out the order to prevent us from escaping." Kagome comments to him a few seconds later.

Wakana watches silently from the room where she had to guard Kagome. "Nice one, woman." Kagura comes in. Wakana doesn't feel like talking to her. "Since when are you the quite one?" She walks in front of the woman. All Wakana does is look at Kagura before turning her attention back outside. Kagura looks closer at the spot on her body. The pendant. "Sounds to me you want to send out a message to your daughter." Kagura taunts hers. Wakana has nothing to say to her. Not just that. "She's mute." Kanna appears behind her. Kagura turns around in surprise. "Dammit, Kanna. What do you mean she's mute? She was talking before." Kagura crossed her arms.

Kanna isn't fazed with Kagura's uptightness. "The pendant holds her voice. Since she doesn't have it with her, she isn't able to talk." She explains to the wind sorceress. Kagura gets it now. "Wakana." Naraku comes into the room. Wakana turns to him. "So, it's true that you go mute. That's not my concern as we speak, well except you." He walks up to the window to see what's got her attention. "Seems you want to stay here while Kimi hangs onto your pendant." He turns his gaze to her. As so much to say something to prevent Naraku going after Kimi, Wakana is nothing but a mute woman. "Pitiful." Naraku turns around to leave. "Dispose of her, Kagura." He gives the order to her.

Kagura opens her fan swiftly and slashes the woman. But something else shocked her. Wakana didn't break apart as expected. "What?" Kagura is confused. Kanna glows her mirror. "Remember what happened? I have her soul in my mirror. She can't be destroyed, no matter how hard you try to do." She spoke nonchalantly. All Kagura could do is growl in annoyance. "Naraku gave me the order to dispose her." She reasons to her sister. "I find it hard to believe this. I get one simple task and it ends up to be impossible." All Kanna does is disappear with no emotion. Having no choice, Kagura just leaves the room, without saying a word. Wakana slightly grins, knowing what she herself did.

Sango and Miroku come up to the duo. "What's troubling you?" Miroku asks Inuyasha. "Something's not right with what happened?" Inuyasha replies back to him. He tells him what he just told Kagome. "Yeah that is strange." Sango agrees with him. "So, what do you think we should do?" Miroku asks him. Inuyasha looks back to the castle. "From what we know so far is that Kagome was able to purify the miasma. If it weren't for her, we'd be goners." He starts off. "You were able to save me. That was the purpose of the mission." Kagome reminds him. As such she turns around to walk on ahead. Inuyasha turn to Miroku and Sango to see if any of them know why Kagome is acting like this. They just shrugged their shoulders and walked away. Knowing that there isn't anything else to discuss, Inuyasha turns around to join the group.

All make it back to Kaede's village by nightfall. Kagome enters the hut to find Shippo and Kimi sleeping. But Kaede is still awake. "I see ye made it back safe and sound." She whispers to the returning group. "Yeah. We did." Kagome replies back as she sees the sleeping children. "You better get some sleep." Kaede advices them. No one argued with her as they settle down and go to sleep.

The next morning, Kimi is the first to wake up. She looks around the hut to find the group has returned. But it down. She walks up to Kagome, shaking her. "Kagome. Kagome wake up." She whispers to her. Kagome groans as she turns to the other side to see Kimi with a worried look. "What is it, Kimi?" Kagome yawns her question. "Why isn't mama with us? Did something happen to her?" Kimi asks quietly. Kagome stretches her body. "I assure you that your mother is doing just fine." She smiles warmly to calm her. But it didn't work. That's when Kimi sees something in Kagome's backpack. Kagome follows Kimi's sight as she digs into one of the pockets.

"Kagome." Shippo mumbles in his sleep. Kagome goes to Shippo and hold him into her arms. "I'm right here, Shippo." She sooths him down, to make him fall back to sleep. Knowing that it's too early for the group to wake up, Kagome places him back into her sleeping bag. "I'll be right back." She whispers to Kimi as she leaves the hut.

Kagome walks casually across the village. Seeing the men going to the fields, while the woman do the other various tasks of the day. Kagome walks towards the bare tree that lacks any leaves on its branches. Looking up to see if Inuyasha sleeping on the biggest branch the tree has to offer. She is about to call out to him, Inuyasha spoke first. "You should be sleeping." Kagome sighs. "I would but Kimi woke me up to ask where her mother is." She replies back to him as she sits onto the bark. "Sango told Kimi that we were going to save you and her. But we were only able to save you." Inuyasha said as he lands gracefully onto the ground by her and sits down.

Kagome looks so sad. "What is it?" He asks her worried. "We weren't able to save Wakana from Naraku's grasps. I just couldn't tell her." She wraps her bent up legs. "Telling a child that she'll never see her mother again. It's just too much to do. When she woke me up, she was worried." She explains to him on how bringing bad news to a child.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41: The Secret of the Pendant

Inuyasha has no idea on how to tell bad news to a child. "What was it like when you found out that your mother passed away?" Kagome asks sadly in murmur as she stays in her seated position. Inuyasha didn't see this coming. He only told her that she died a long time ago, in a sour tone. He wasn't one who would tell anyone about his past. "I was devastated." He admits to her with his bangs over his eyes.

Thinking she either has to drop the topic or proceed a bit further. "I was aware she was sick. I was just a kid when she died." He speaks out before Kagome could make her choice. "I'm sorry to bring it up." Kagome said in regret about the topic. All Inuyasha could do is turn his head to her, with the bangs still covering his eyes. All Kagome could do is sympathize with her. "I lost my father when I was kid. It was right Sota was born." She copies Inuyasha's covered eyes.

Never in her life has Kagome ever once mentioned about her father to anyone outside of her family. "How?" Inuyasha managed to asked her softly, hearing how hurt Kagome is. "He was killed in a car accident." Kagome sniffled a little, trying her best to hold her tears. However, they slide down her cheeks. Not just that, Kagome buried her head into her arms.

At this point, Inuyasha has never expect Kagome to be this hurt when her father was killed. Judging by the time she came over her, it was like she has gotten over it ever since. But if it were to be brought up, she'd be depressed. Hoping it doesn't bother her whenever she was home. "It's never easy to give a child bad news that is about their parent's death." She murmurs. Inuyasha can feel the pressure. "We might as well head back." Kagome recommends as she is about to stand back up. But her arm is being pulled back down to the ground, into his arms. "Not yet." Inuyasha whispers to her into her ear.

Doing all she could to get out of his grasp, Inuyasha wouldn't let her go. "Stop it, Inuyasha. We have to tell Kimi about her mother. Stop messing around." Kagome continues to struggle, but as always, Inuyasha wouldn't let her go. Despite the position she found herself in, she knows it's too early in the morning, so she decides to go back to sleep. Inuyasha looks down to the girl in his arms with a fond smile. 'Later. We're not ready yet.' He declaims as he decides to go to sleep.

Back at the hut, Kimi is sitting on the wooden floor. Kaede woke up a few minutes ago to start making breakfast for the group. "Ye have nothing to worry, child." Kaede speaks up. Kimi turns to her. "But I am worry. I really thought that Kagome would be back by now." She responds honestly. Kaede knows better. Kagome isn't one to give bad news. She knows that. 'I guess she must've gone to Inuyasha to find support.' She thought to herself.

A few hours later, Kimi has had enough of waiting for Kagome to return. She stands up and heads out the door. But before she steps outside, the flap of the doorway is pushed away to let the person, or in this case, people to enter. "Where on earth were you two?" She yells as she crosses her arms. Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other, hoping for which one to get her the bad news. "Well, Kimi…" Kagome starts off. But then the pendant pulses as it goes into the center of the hut. Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kaede and Kirara stare at the item. "You have nothing to worry about." Wakana's voice speaks out of nowhere. Soon enough the pendant's power glows and then Wakana's body appears. "Mommy." Kimi runs to her. "Kimi, I'm sorry I couldn't came be home." Wakana knees down to her level. Kimi is confused. "What are you talking about? You're here aren't you?" Kimi asks her mother. Wakana shakes her head. "I was never here in the first place." She replies back sadly, "But as you can see, I trapped most of my soul into this pendant so that the girl with the mirror wouldn't get it. I made her believe she did in the first place." She explains to her daughter.

All of a sudden, the pendant opens up to reveal a sacred jewel shard inside. Kagome gasps at the sight. "I never sensed it. I'm usually able to sense one nearby. How is it that I wasn't able to sense its presence?" Kagome asks, feeling down. Sango comes to her side and comforts her. "I had to do something to make sure no one who had that ability to know its whereabouts." Wakana replies softly as she comes to Kagome. "I'm sorry about all this, Kagome. You see this shard was keeping me alive when I stumbled upon it when the girl with the mirror came. I had to do whatever it took to protect Kimi." She explains to her. "But now, since I'm free from the clutches of the girl and her master, I'm finally ready to go rest in peace. But I cannot do that without my little girl." She smiles in the end as she picks up Kimi into her arms.

Kagome nods. "I see now." She spoke, "You were aware about what I was going to tell your daughter about the aftermath when we came back." She's relieved. She doesn't have to give the bad news she was going to tell Kimi. "Now Kimi, is there something you would like to say to Kagome?" Wakana asks her daughter nicely. Kimi nods, "I actually have two." She replies as she points to the jewel shard. "Ah that's right. We have to give Kagome this so she can protect it. Kimi digs into the pendant to carefully pull out the shard and hand it over to Kagome. "Kagome, thank you for saving my mommy." She smiles as she gives the shard. Kagome closes her palm to purify the jewel for if there any traces of taint in it. Luckily, not a single spot was tainted. "You're welcome, Kimi."

As such, the mother and daughter gently fade away until they completely vanished. "I never saw that coming." Miroku spoke after a few seconds. "What?" Sango asks him curiously. "I should've been able to send them to the afterlife when I had the chance." Miroku replies back to her. "I guess then some spirits need to find their problems, solve it and be on their way." Kagome comments as she places the new jewel shard in her little bottle where a few other pieces that have been collected inside.

Later that night, Kagome decides to head back home. But as always, Inuyasha would just tag along. "How long will you be gone?" Kagome hears him asking as they get to the clearing of the forest where the well resides. "You know, you're more than welcome to come." She offers to him instead of answering the question. "Just answer me." Inuyasha gets in front of her. "No way." Kagome grabs the rim of the well, that is until Inuyasha grabs her wrist. "I'm not letting you until you answer my question." He speaks to her softly. Kagome takes a few deep breathes to calm down. "Three days, Inuyasha." She answers as she tries to get her captured wrist free.

"Wrong answer." Inuyasha disagrees with her. Kagome turns to him. "What? I gave you my right answer." She stares back at him. "That's what you think. But not me." She is confused. "Whenever you leave, I'm just lonely." Inuyasha admits to her. "Then come with me to the other side." She assures him as she leans onto his stretched arm. "That's the right answer." Inuyasha huskily whispers as they jump in. 'Never in my life would I have the love of my life right here with me." Inuyasha smiles as he embraces her, and gives her a passionate kiss as the light engulf them into the future.

THE END


End file.
